Final Flight: Exodus
by BobDL
Summary: This is a continuation of the Final Flight stories.
1. Chapter 1

Final Flight – Exodus

This story is a continuation of the Battlestar Galactica - Final Flight series. Please read Final Flight and Final Flight-Flashbacks before reading this story.

As always, Battlestar Galactica is a property of Glenn Larson and Universal Pictures. No profit or remuneration is sought by the author. This story is solely intended for the enjoyment of the readers. All characters not original to Battlestar Galactica are from the imagination of the author and are not meant to resemble real persons. Ships and technologies not original to Battlestar Galactica are also from the imagination of the author and are not meant to resemble those from other stories or real situations.

Note: for clarity and the sanity of the author narrative use of dimensions will be in the metric (SI) system.

**Battlestar Galactica**

**Final Flight - Exodus**

_"My world is spinning around,  
"Everything is lost that I found."  
"People run, come ride with me,  
"Let's find another place that's free."_

_**Ride My See Saw -The Moody Blues**_

Chapter 1 - 30 March 2010

With a flash the ships of Earth Defense Navy Task Force 2.1 decelerated from light speed. The task force was centered around the carrier Saratoga and, like Task Force 1.1, it included the Lexington class carrier, two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, four destroyers, and four frigates along with the carrier's fighter wing. Ahead of them lay the closest solar system to Earth's, the Centauri system.

The Alpha Centauri system was composed of three stars, A, B, and C otherwise known as Proxima since Proxima was the closest known star to the Solar System. A and B orbited each other every 80 years. Their closest approach to each other was about 11 AU (astronomical units) or about the orbit of Saturn around the Sun. Their farthest separation was 35 and a half AU or about the average distance of the orbit of Pluto. Proxima orbits the other two at twelve to thirteen thousand AU.

Peace had settled over the Solar System since the defeat over Mars of the Cylon pursuit force. The Cylons had followed the Colonial Rag Tag Fleet, led by the Battlestar Galactica, to Earth, but were soundly defeated by the combined Colonial and Navy forces. After the battle over Mars the colonial refugees had been settled, the damaged Galactica had been towed to Ceres, and the ships of the Rag Tag fleet had been repaired at the Moon Base. Most of the civilian ships were later mothballed on Ceres, the military useful ones were retained for use by the Earth Defense Navy under contract to their owners as auxiliaries. Two such ships a freighter and a tanker were with the Saratoga's task force.

Several ships of Task Force 2.1 separated from the main formation and formed two smaller task groups. The first led by the heavy cruiser Boston remained behind to conduct a survey of the Proxima Centauri while the main group proceeded on to the main two stars of the Alpha Centauri system. Upon arrival, the main group, led by the Saratoga began a survey of the Alpha Centauri A system while a third group led by the heavy cruiser Philadelphia departed to the second half of the Alpha Centari system, Alpha Centauri B.

Over the next few days the planets of each star were found, catagorized, and mapped from orbit. Proxima was found to have three little ice balls orbiting it. While A and B turned out to have respectable retinues of planets; six around A and five around B. All of them rocky, there were no gas giants in the triple star solar system. Their place being taken by the stars themselves. What was surprising was the discovery that both A and B each had one habitable planet and over each planet was a respectably sized moon. Those findings were reported back to the Moon base while survey teams began a detailed exploration of the habitable worlds and their moons and conducted a resource survey of the other bodies in the triple solar system.

To an outside observer the asteroid Ceres would look exactly like it had throughout recent millenia. Ceres was 950 kilometers in diamter and had an eliptical orbit that varried from 381 million kilometers to 447 million kilometers from the Sun. Within the asteroid the EDN had set up several undergound facilities. The first facility was where the ancient colony ships of the 13th Tribe were stored to make room for newly constructed ships at the moon base. The second facility was a Tylium mine as Ceres was the EDN's primary source of the vaulable fuel. The third facility was where the damaged Colonial Battlestar Galactica was slowly being rebuilt. To hide the various ships from Earth observation should a probe ever be sent to the asteroid the same technique to create the moon base was used. Craters were roofed over and camaoflaged. Using a roofed over crated allowed the creation of a shirt sleeve environment for the repair teams working on the Galactica. Currently the ancient battlestar was enclosed by a vast array of scaffolding and work platforms.

The sun shined down on the stifling hot minor port city. Within the port stood a massive concrete quay and an adjacent yacht basin. Several large cargo handing cranes were emplaced on the quay. The port was the home to a long range, ocean going power cruiser production factory. The yacht basin was filled with power cruisers the factory had produced and were waiting for sale, mostly to international customers as only a handful of the host country's populace was able to afford one of the large boats.

Two men stood silently on the quay as a cargo was loaded onto one of the power cruisers moored alongside the quay. Several other men stood nearby. Their heads turned constantly looking for any threats to the first two men and to the operation taking place.

The power cruisers being built had three cabins, one amidships, one port and one starboard. In the amidships cabin the bed had been removed and the hull over that cabin had been removed. A crane lowered the cargo into the vacated cabin. The cruiser then settled a little lower into the water due to the weight of the cargo. After the longshoremen had loaded the cargo and removed the crane a separate crew boarded the boat to remove the shipping material around the cargo to reveal what appeared to be a new bed for the cabin. Finally a third crew boarded the power cruiser to repair the hull over the cabin.

"That's the last one," the first man said to the second. The second man stood silently, only nodding his head in reply. Both reveled in the knowledge that the operation had been concluded successfully after loading similar cargos into a score of other power cruisers in the previous weeks. Those other boats had already been crewed and sent on their way. Some had left the port directly under their own power. Others had been loaded onto cargo ships as their destinations were beyond the range of the cruisers. They had then been unloaded at a port in the Americas and from there sent onto their final destinations. Half had passed through the Panama Canal and the rest had proceeded north. The departures and travel speeds of the power cruisers had been timed meticulously to ensure that they would arrive at their destinations within a day of each other.

Unbeknownst to the men standing on the quay another person observed the proceedings. He stood unmoved by the stifling heat of the day wearing a white tunic, trousers and cape. All adorned with embroidery and jewels. He too nodded his head in satisfaction, a deadly smile spread across his face. He then departed. His ethereal presence going unnoticed by those around him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - 14 May 2010

In the vastness of the Great Plains of the United States sat a formerly small town, Naper, Nebraska. Unlike most prairie towns over the past thirty years, this town and two others, St. Charles and Herrick, South Dakota, had grown remarkably. In contrast, most prairie towns were slowly dying due to the lack of jobs and the consolidation of farm land. In fact, many called what happened to the three towns, now small cities, the miracle of the plains.

Colonial Industries had purchased much of the farm land around, and much of the real estate within, the three towns. They had then set up factories to produce everything from food stuffs, consumer electronics, furniture, house hold appliances, automobiles, to general aviation aircraft. Other factory sites were also established in other states, but the center of Colonial Industries resided in these three towns. Now, the volume of products was small compared to those corporations that had been in existence for decades or longer, but Colonial Industries prided themselves on being the only true remaining completely domestic manufacturers in the USA. The Made in USA label was shown proudly on each product made.

In addition to the factories entire neighborhoods had been built to handle the influx of workers to staff the factories. Security measures had also been emplaced to secure both the factories and the "company towns." The company towns were not completely isolated from the original prairie towns, but without the security measures Colonial Industries feared an influx of job seekers and vagrants beyond what the corporation could handle.

Naper, St. Charles, and Herrick had also grown along with the creation of company towns Colonial Industries set up for their workers. While the company towns were completely independent, much like military bases, businesses had been created to provide the company towns with alternate services. Shopping malls, restaurants, car dealerships, grocery stores, and gas stations had sprung up concurrent with the growth of the company towns.

To enforce company security, a private guard force that held the force of law within company property was created. Colonial Security worked hard to maintain a good working relationship with both local and state authorities. They were known throughout the region for being both very tough when it came to security of company property and personnel and extremely fair and easy to work with when they dealt with non-company property and persons. They were one of the first choices for the local authorities whenever a situation developed that was outside their capabilities to handle.

Recently, a large turnover of personnel had taken place within the company towns. Unbeknownst to the population at large, five years ago the passengers and many of the crews of the Colonial "Rag Tag" fleet had been settled in the company towns, displacing most of the original employees and their families. The displaced families, having satisfied the criteria established long ago on the Davis farm in Montana when they were initially employed, were transferred up to the moon base.

One new resident and his wife were returning home from a community council meeting. Their black Chevrolet Impala shined in the long summer's evening sun light as it stopped in their house' driveway. Paul Adams, otherwise known as Colonel Apollo of the Colonial Fleet and President of the Council of the Twelve, got out of the car, opened his wife, Sheba's door and together they walked over to their street side mail box. They removed the contents and walked up the short walk to their front door. Apollo unlocked the door and again opened it for his wife, following her into their house. Their house was a typical American ranch house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. This provided them with room for their entire family. Their two sons had opted to share an apartment in Naper while their daughter had remained. All three had enrolled for classes at the local college.

Apollo, soon after he, Sheba and their children had been settled, had started training for a position with the Colonial Security branch of Colonial Industries. That plan was aborted as he was almost drafted to be a councilman during a write in campaign by other Colonial refugees to replace his father on the Council of the Twelve. Apollo, honored to be chosen to replace his father on the Council had accepted his nomination. Now, he and three other council members resided in Naper, while the other eight were split between St Charles and Herrick.

"We're home," Sheba called as she and Apollo enter their home.

"Hey, mom, dad," their daughter, Ruth, called from the breakfast area next to the kitchen where she was doing homework. Her laptop computer and a scattering of paper and text books covered the table.

"How was your day, honey," Sheba asked while joining her daughter in the kitchen. Mother and daughter then began a long discussion on each of their days, Ruth's time at college and Sheba's in the Council meeting. In the living room Apollo sat down in his recliner to go through the mail a second time.

Outside, a blue sedan pulled into their driveway. A fairly tall, blond haired man wearing a dark blue business suit got out of the car and walked up to the house. His patent leather shoes gleamed in the evening sun light. He rang the door bell when he reached the front porch. A moment later Apollo opened the door. He immediately recognized the man on his door step.

"Lieutenant Hoeing, come in. What can I do for you?"

"Hello, Colonel," he replied as he stepped inside. Apollo closed the front door behind him. Apollo had gotten to know Lieutenant Hoeing quite well over the last five years. Hoeing had been reassigned from being Admiral Stevens' personal aid to his liaison to Colonel Apollo and the Council of the Twelve.

"Admiral Stevens sends his regards," Hoeing began taking a simple, white envelope out of his jacket's inside breast pocket and handing it to Apollo. He stole an appreciative glance into the kitchen where Ruth and Sheba were preparing the evening meal. Apollo took the envelope and quickly opened it to see a printed invitation. The title of it said.

Battlestar Galactica Commissioning Ceremony

"So the repairs should be completed on schedule," Apollo asked rhetorically. He already knew the state of the battlestar's repairs. Hoeing's main job was to give Apollo and the Colonial Council monthly status updates.

"That's right, Colonel," Hoeing said. "They're on track to have everything done in time for the re-commissioning in three months." He stole another glance into the kitchen. This time Ruth caught his eyes and he quickly looked away. She rolled her eyes and continued with her work.

Soon after the battle over Mars when the Galactica was crippled by Baltar's suicide bomb, the Galactica was towed to a repair station on the asteroid Ceres. EDN and Colonial engineers had gone over the ship to develop a repair plan. Apollo and the surviving council members had gone over the plan and then approved it. In exchange for the repair work several of the Rag Tag Fleet's ships, ones that had been government owned, had been turned over to the EDN. This had provided the EDN with some needed support ships such as tankers and freighters. The EDN had designs for military support ships on their drawing boards, but the trade was beneficial to both parties.

Another decision had been made at that time. The Council had to decide whether to maintain the Galactica as an independent unit thereby keeping the Colonial Fleet intact, albeit with only one operational unit, or to integrate the Galactica into the EDN. The choice was quickly made to keep the Colonial Fleet separate from the EDN. The issue of building or procuring from the EDN suitable escort ships, the lesson of having escorts for the mighty battlestar was well learned, was deferred as the Colonial government had few assets to trade to the EDN. They were sure that under joint operations, like the battle over Mars, the EDN would provide escorts as needed.

The Council and EDN also agreed to essentially rebuild the Galactica to be as compatible with EDN technology as possible as any future operations or repairs would use EDN technology. Several times the repair plan and schedule had to be changed as unforeseen damage had been identified. The Galactica essentially had to be stripped down to her main structural members and rebuilt. Once repairs to the Galactica were completed a new crew would be recruited from the transplanted Colonials, many veterans from the Galactica's crew had retired, and a massive training program would begin on the moon base then later within the rebuilt ship.

Hoeing took another envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Apollo. With an upward twitch of an eyebrow towards the young EDN officer Apollo opened the second envelope to reveal a set of travel arrangements for himself, the members of the Council and their spouses, and the senior Colonial Fleet officers on EDN transports from Naper, Nebraska to the moon base, then on to Ceres for the re-commissioning ceremony then back to Naper.

"I need to report these developments to the Council," Apollo told Hoeing. "They'll be glad to hear that the work should end as scheduled. Uh, please tell Admiral Stevens that we accept his invitation and, unless something comes up, that we'll be on Ceres in time for the ceremony."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - 23 May 2010

Six space suited figures bounded across the surface of the moon of the third planet of Alpha Centauri A. The white overalls of the skin-tight suits shone brightly under the combined light of the sun and planet below. Dust kicked up in parabolic sprays in the vacuum with each bounding step the six men took. Behind them a shuttle waited patiently while a couple hundred meters ahead of them a mystery loomed.

During the previous weeks the efforts of the expeditionary force concentrated on two habitable planets in the Alpha Centauri system. Orbital scans were performed of the two worlds and their satellites. It was quickly discovered that both Alpha Centauri A-3 and Alpha Centauri B-2 had nearly the same diameter and surface gravity as the Earth.

A-3's radius was slightly more than Earth's at 6,430 kilometers (diameter 12860 km), its mass was 1.0225 times Earth's, and its surface gravity was also slightly more at 1.01g. A-3's axial tilt was also similar to Earth's at 23.1 degrees. A-3 orbited its sun at 1.25 AU which corresponded to where theory stated would be the optimum orbit for a habitable planet around Alpha Centauri A. A-3's land percentage was nearly forty percent compared to Earth's thirty percent. Its day was a few minutes more than twenty four hours.

B-2's diameter was slightly less than Earth's at 6,242 kilometers (diameter 12484 km), its mass was .935 times Earth's, and its surface gravity was also slightly less at .98g. B-2's axial tilt was also similar to Earth's at 23.5 degrees. B-2 orbited its sun at 0.7 AU which corresponded to where theory stated would be the optimum orbit for a habitable planet around Alpha Centauri B. B-2's land percentage was less than Earth's at 26 percent. Its day was a couple minutes less than twenty four hours.

The moon over A-3 was a little smaller than Earth's moon with a radius of 1200 kilometers (diameter 2400 km), its mass was .00405 times Earth's or .33 times the Moon's, with a corresponding surface gravity of .11g. It orbited the planet in a surprisingly similar orbit to Earth's moon. Its period was exactly twenty nine and a half days. Also, like Earth's moon, A-3s moon was tidally locked so that one face constantly faced the planet.

The moon over B-2 was slightly smaller than the moon over A-3. Its radius was 1135 kilometers (diameter 2270 km) its mass was .0034 times Earth's or .276 times the Moon's, and its surface gravity was slightly more than .1g. Coincidentally, the moon over B-2 also orbited with exactly the same period, exactly twenty nine and a half days and was tidally locked with B-2.

An orbital radar survey of A-3's moon had discovered an area of exceedingly high radar reflectivity on the moon's north pole. A photographic analysis of the site revealed some kind of structure on the moon's surface. A team was assembled from the Yorktown's Marine detachment and dispatched to investigate the site.

"We're approaching the structure now," Marine Lieutenant Anthony Hughes announced. His signal was relayed by the landed shuttle up to the Saratoga's CIC where the commander of the task force, Rear Admiral Thomas Kennymore stood over a plotting table monitoring the surface team. Videos from the surface team's helmet cameras were being displayed on the plotting table. The images from the cameras were constantly wobbling as the surface team bounded toward the structure. The Saratoga's Marine commander, Captain Brian Marks also stood at the pedestal watching his men explore the newly discovered structure.

"Well, isn't that something," one of the Marines on the surface said with some amazement. The six men had stopped a dozen meters short of the structure, a stone pyramid with a base fifty meters on a side and twenty five meters tall. One face of the structure, with what appeared to be an entrance, faced the planet below.

"Yet, not really surprising, Sergeant," Hughes replied. "Set up the radar reflectors at the corners of the structure," he ordered. The rest of the team bounded off to the four corners of the pyramid and set up four highly polished aluminum dodecahedrons.

"We're ready for the position fix," Hughes announced once the reflectors were set up.

A moment later a technician in the Saratoga's CIC announced, after scanning the structure with the ship's radar, that the pyramid was perfectly aligned with the moon's North Pole and that the alignment of the faces was also perfectly aligned to face the planet.

"We're now going to investigate the interior of the structure," Hughes announced next. He and his men activated their helmet mounted lights and shone them into the entrance of the pyramid. The lights revealed that the opening was much like the former moon base commander's personal airlock. Hughes produced a duplicate of the medallion that Starbuck had used years before to reopen the moon base and inserted it into the receptacle in front of him. With a sprinkling of dust, the outer airlock door opened at a twist of the medallion.

Hughes and the men behind him shined their lights further into the structure. Unsurprisingly, they saw an airlock exactly configured like the one Starbuck and Dan Foster had opened long ago. Hughes waved for all but two of his men to enter the airlock. He then cycled the airlock using the duplicate key. The outer airlock door shut, air was pumped into the lock, and a light began to illuminate the four men. The inner door opened a moment later to reveal a short corridor that led to a ten meter by ten meter vaulted chamber.

The four men left their helmets on and walked into the brightly lit chamber. All four walls were covered with images of the Alpha Centauri star system and the two Earth sized planets. On the wall opposite to the airlock was another door.

A quick look at the pictures revealed that they were not originally habitable, but were made so by the 13th Tribe. Also, the two planet's moons were placed there to match Earth's moon's size and orbital characteristics. Kobolian writing covered all the space on the walls not covered by the pictures. While the party took out their cameras and began to photograph everything, Hughes noticed that some of the writing was larger right next to the opening he just emerged from. He began to read out loud, translating from Kobolian to English as he read.

"We give these worlds to our children. When it is time for you to leave the Earth in search of life out there, you will find a barren universe around you..."

"…We have prepared these worlds to encourage you to do the same elsewhere until you reach the Home World and your brethren, the other twelve tribes. Life is a precious gift from the Creator. Spread it as far and wide as you can," Admiral Stevens concluded as he read from the report in the moon base's main conference room.

With him in the conference room were Captain Starbuck, Ron Davis, Michael Davis, and several other members of the EDN leadership.

"A second pyramid was found on B-2's moon," Stevens added. "It was identical to the one over A-3."

"The translation appears to be correct," Starbuck announced as he closely scrutinized some of the photographs in front of him. Years ago as part of the training program for recruits for the EDN, two language classes were created, one for Caprican, which had become the common tongue of the Colonies and a second for Kobolian, the language of the 13th Tribe. Starbuck had used the knowledge of Kobolian that the Angels of the Ship of Lights had given to him and documents available on the moon base to write a Kobolian to English dictionary and grammar. That dictionary was slightly more complete than the Caprican to English one that he had also written. His only supporting document for Caprican was the small Book of the Word that was part of every Viper pilot's survival kit.

"It appears that the 13th Tribe provided us with a gift as they settled on Earth," Ron said. "What else was in the chamber?"

"The other inscriptions and pictures described the terraforming of the two worlds," Stevens said. "The second door led to an underground chamber containing the life support equipment and power supply."

"A new frontier," Michael Davis said wistfully. "This is what many Americans have asked for over the years as the Federal Government had grown to tyrannical proportions."

"Yet, we should not jump into colonization immediately," Ron Davis countered. "Our people made many mistakes when we colonized North America. Let's do this one right. First we need to completely understand the conditions of both worlds. Then we can decide the details of colonization."

"I agree," Starbuck added. "The environments of both worlds may be very sensitive to change since they were artificially created."

Admiral Stevens thought quietly while listening to the discussion around him. The opportunity for his people was great, but the risks were unknown.

"Let's continue with the exploration of the Centauri system as planned," he said. "We'll meet again when the next update is sent."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - 13 June 2010

_Beep, beep, beep_.

Apollo slapped the top of the alarm clock to end the annoying beeping. With a groan he pulled his bed covers aside and sat up in bed rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He looked at the alarm clock to read the time, 4:30 am.

"Mmmm", a sleepy Sheba complained from the other side of the bed.

"We have an early flight," Apollo said groggily. "You can sleep a little longer, but you won't get me to wash your back."

"Hmmrrr," Sheba groaned as she too pulled her covers away and sat up in bed. The two then made their way to their bathroom.

An hour later, Apollo dressed in a conservative yet stylish dark blue business suit, and Sheba dressed similarly in navy blue except with a knee length skirt, were waiting in their living room. They had packed their luggage carefully the day before. In two garment bags were their Colonial dress uniforms. In a third suitcase were their other clothes and personal items for the trip to Ceres.

While sitting in his easy chair Apollo took a quick appraising look at his wife, she smiled quietly back. He thought she looked smart in her new skirt, blouse and blazer. Her curves filled the blazer nicely, curves not too diminished by age and motherhood, and her legs were exposed from the knee down to her stylish, modestly high pumps. Beneath the soft civilian clothes he knew that a Colonial Warrior resided, her strength hidden beneath a layer of femininity.

Sheba, like Apollo and many other warriors, had relaxed upon being settled on Earth. Soon, she had become anxious to expand her horizons. She led her squadron mates in simulator time during the monthly Colonial Fleet Reserve training sessions. She had even requested that the EDN allow her, and any other Warrior that makes a request, access to their F-1 Lightning and A-1 Avenger simulators. She had learned to fly, on the simulator at least, both vehicles as well as maintain her Viper and Colonial shuttle ratings.

Apollo, as his duties as President of the Council of the Twelve allowed, followed his wife's lead in learning to fly the EDN fighters. He found them, as he had witnessed during the battle with the Cylons five years ago, less maneuverable than a Viper, yet slightly more maneuverable than a Cylon Raider. Their missile and electronic warfare capabilities, plus the added crewmember, more than made up for this lack.

Ruth came from her room as her parents were waiting. She had just dressed after her morning shower and was heading to the kitchen for a cup of tea. She gave her parents an appreciative look over.

"It looks like you're ready to go," she commented as she filled a teapot and placed it on the stove top.

"We're just waiting for our ride," Apollo replied. "They should be here about now."

Just then a smooth black limousine pulled up to their house. The Colonial Charters uniformed driver exited the car. From the other side Lieutenant Hoeing, also in a business suit, exited and together they walked up to the house and rang the bell. The door opened immediately as Sheba had seen the car pull up through the front room windows.

"Good morning, Captain Sheba," Hoeing began while he and the other man held themselves stiffly at the position of attention.

"Good morning, Lieutenant," she replied.

"This is Bosun's Mate Carter. We've come to take you to the airport. Do you have your bags ready? If so, then we'll load them into the car."

"We sure do," Apollo added while bringing the bags to the door. Quickly the luggage was loaded into the trunk of the limousine.

"Have a good time," Ruth said while stepping quickly to the door. "I wish I was going with you."

"I wish you could go too, baby," Sheba replied while giving her daughter a hug.

"We'll be back in a few days," Apollo added while giving his daughter a hug in turn. He and Sheba then exited their house and climbed into the limo. Hoeing and Carter held the doors open for them.

After buckling up, Apollo and Sheba snuggled together, as best as they could, for the ride to Naper International Airport. Fifteen minutes later the limo pulled up to a VIP entrance. There Hoeing and Carter helped their passengers out of the car and retrieved their bags. They then led the couple into the terminal. Inside Hoeing made a quick head count of the people in the waiting area.

"We're still waiting for a few more," he told Apollo. "The flight should leave on time."

"Ok, thanks," Apollo replied as he and Sheba also made a quick assessment of who was in the VIP lounge. He saw most of the Council of the Twelve waiting on the couches. As the Council was not in session, he nodded his greetings to the other council members who replied with their own sleepy nods. He and Sheba found an empty couch and sat down to wait until their flight was called. Across the aisle from them sat Sire Uri, the Council's most senior member, and his wife.

"Good Morning, Sire Uri, Siress," Apollo greeted as he took his seat.

"Good Morning, Mister President, Captain Sheba," he replied.

Five years ago, with the death of Adama, Uri had hoped that he would be chosen to be President of the Council. Instead, Apollo was chosen by the Caprican people to replace his father. The Colonial people, despite the twenty years passed since the debacle on Carillon, had not forgotten Uri's blunder. Now Uri was very old and was happy just to retain his seat on the Council. The people he represented, the Sagittarians, still valued his political experience, and as the most senior member, Uri had considerable sway among the younger members. Uri had used this experience to become the Council's "Elder Statesmen." Long ago he had become an expert on Colonial Law and Customs. He became the calming hand on the Council. Though he and Apollo had many differences, he still had become something approaching an advisor to the new Colonial president. Apollo in turn had learned to respect Uri's vast experience and political acumen.

"I take it that you are looking forward to the re-commissioning of the Galactica," Uri said.

"Indeed," Apollo replied. "It is about time the Colonial remnant starts contributing to the defense of Earth."

_Ah, yes_, Uri thought to himself. Ever since the near destruction of the Galactica by the traitor, Baltar, the Colonial peoples had been forced by circumstances to be completely reliant on the EDN. Though, in their defense, the EDN had been very generous and gracious with the Colonials. Still, he was in complete agreement with Apollo. The reactivation of the Colonial Fleet would give them some measure of independence again.

Several more figures then entered the VIP lounge. Apollo and the others looked up to see who they were. Through the lounge's windows he could see two large passenger vans stopped near the entrance. Men were working to move luggage from the rear van to some luggage carts. He saw his son, the new leader of Blue Squadron, and the other squadron leaders exit the forward van and come into the lounge. The other squadron leaders, Lt. Tobias, Capt. Bojay, Capt. Brie, and Lt. Cree followed him through the door. Finally, Captains Greenbean and Athena walked in. Capt. Omega, the other command rated bridge officer trailed the others. Apollo waved for his son, sister, and brother in law to come join him. The three quickly stepped over and sat down next to Apollo and Sheba.

Before anyone could do more than say good morning, a Colonial Charters official came into the lounge to announce that the flight was ready for boarding. Apollo and Sheba led the gathering toward the boarding ramp and onto a Colonial Airlines Boeing 727. The whole aircraft was configured for first class passengers, two large seats on either side of the central aisle with sufficient leg room between rows to fully recline each seat to a nearly horizontal position.

At the entrance to the aircraft a Colonial Charters flight attendant gave each passenger their seating assignment. Apollo led his wife to the first row of seats and sat down.

A short time later the airliner was airborne and on course to San Jose, Costa Rica. Five hours later the aircraft touched down and was refueled. The passengers were all allowed to disembark the aircraft to stretch their legs in the customs lounge. Again, the flight took off, this time heading west over the Pacific Ocean. An hour over the water the pilots turned the aircraft southbound and transferred power from the outboard, conventional jet engines to the centrally mounted, Tylium powered engine. Outside radar coverage of any of the world's powers the flight left the Earth's atmosphere and accelerated towards the moon.

Once the flight had landed in the EDN moon base, Apollo, Sheba and the rest of the passengers were again allowed to disembark. Again, they found themselves in a VIP lounge in the Base Operations center. A well known figure entered the room as the Colonial passengers again took the opportunity to stretch their tired legs. The man walked up to Apollo and Sheba.

"It looks like they let just about anyone in here," Starbuck quipped with his trademark grin spread across his face, slightly startling the half asleep Apollo. Apollo quickly looked up, realized who was talking to him, stood and struck out his hand.

"You daggit," Apollo exclaimed while Starbuck took the proffered hand and shook it Colonial style and then gave Sheba a quick hug. Starbuck then led his friends over to the bar for a drink. He quickly informed them that he would be joining them for the next leg of their journey.

An hour later, just long enough for all the passengers to stretch their tired legs and get a bite to eat, the flight to Ceres was called. This time, two EDN long range shuttles configured as VIP transports were used. The weary passengers boarded the two craft and soon they were on their way. The flight to Ceres was much shorter as the shuttles could fly directly there under full power.

As was typical of all EDN bases the main base on Ceres, Dome 1, the EDNs Tylium production facility, was in a roofed over crater. Two camouflaged clamshell doors opened upwards at the approach of the shuttles, exposing the interior of the crater. The shuttles, one after another, glided to a relative stop over the open doors and descended vertically through the opening. After both shuttles had set down the overhead doors closed. The spacecraft park within the crater was kept at a vacuum. A pressurized bus drove over to each shuttle. Once the buses were docked to the shuttles the hatches were opened and the passengers transferred to the buses. The buses then drove to a large airlock where, after pressurization, the passengers were allowed to walk into the Ceres base operations center. There, the now very weary passengers were escorted to the Temporary Officers' Quarters to sleep after their long day.

14 June 2010

The next morning the guests gathered in the officer's mess for breakfast. Starbuck, Admiral Stevens, the Project Chief Engineer, and the Galactica's Chief Engineer met them there to eat. Naturally, the Council members sat at one table, the Colonial Fleet officers at another, while Apollo, Sheba, Admiral Stevens and Starbuck sat at a third. The former Galactica officers, including Apollo and Sheba, wore their dress uniforms while the members of the Council had adapted to wearing American formal wear, suits and ties for the men and slacks and blazers for Siress Tinia and Blassie.

Adm. Stevens ate quickly as was his habit then, when he saw that most of the others in the mess had eaten, stood up.

"Ladies, gentlemen," he began. "I see that you have just about finished your breakfasts. Today's agenda includes a tour of the Galactica, lunch, the commissioning ceremony, then a formal dinner. So, if you will follow me. I'll take you over to Dome 3 to tour the Galactica."

Stevens led the Colonials out of the dining room to an underground vehicle park where they boarded several pressurized buses. Once everyone was seated, the drivers drove their buses through a large airlock and into a ten kilometer long tunnel connecting Dome 1 to Dome 3.

Apollo sat quietly with Sheba in the front row of one of the buses for the short ride to Dome 3. All through the trip from Naper to Ceres the Colonials had talked and gossiped freely and the Council members had continued their political discussions informally. For the first few minutes after boarding the bus Apollo could hear some quiet chatter from behind him, but as the bus passed through the airlock into Dome 3 the chatter stopped. Sheba turned to look at her husband and saw his anticipation which she also felt strongly. Indeed she could almost feel that the other passengers on the bus felt the same way. She tried to give her husband a reassuring look while taking his hand.

The inner airlock door opened and the two buses entered Dome 3. After passing through the airlock the buses entered the main part of the dome. A hundred meters ahead of them, across a sea of construction equipment and stacks of disassembled scaffolding, they could see the bulk of the Colonial battlestar. The brand new Alpha Bay faced the assembled guests.

"We'll be getting out in a moment," Admiral Stevens announced over speakers on each bus. "I want to make you aware that the work area in this dome is under Ceres natural gravity. Please exercise caution while moving around from this point on." Up until now the Colonials had only experienced a full Earth gravity. Artificial gravity generators were used on the 727 shuttle, the moon base, the two EDN shuttles, and throughout the EDN Ceres complex. Because of the size of the Galactica and the size of the repair parts needed, the low gravity field of Ceres was ideal for repairing the battlestar.

The doors of the buses then opened. Starbuck and Admiral Stevens led the guests out of the buses and onto the main floor of the dome. Apollo and the rest of the Colonials stood quietly while looking up at the Galactica. They were completely awestruck at the site before them. Apollo could never have imagined that he would ever be standing in shirtsleeves while looking at the full length and breadth of the ship he had called home for over twenty years. The battlestar had an uneven bottom so it rested on a series of form fitting platforms, one under the forward section, one under each launch bay, and one under the drive section. Despite the miniscule gravity of the dwarf planet, the platforms were still massive constructions which were needed to hold up the Galactica's multi-million ton mass.

"It's quite a sight, isn't it," Starbuck said to Apollo and Sheba.

"There's nothing to compare," Apollo replied. "I mean, I've seen the Galactica and other battlestars being repaired in several of the fleet repair stations and I've flown by the Galactica so many times I can't count them, but this..." Apollo waved his hand toward the giant ship across the dome from him.

Admiral Stevens then bounded forward to stand before the crowd. "If you will follow me, we'll take a short tour of the Galactica then we'll have some lunch." He then led the way down a path between work areas towards the aft end of the Alpha Bay. There, semi-permanent bridging was emplaced between the landing deck and the work platform of the dome.

On the short bounding walk and after they had gone inside, Apollo noted that new landing bay. Indeed the whole battlestar had a brand new appearance. All traces of damage and age had been repaired. Stevens and Starbuck pointed out lessons learned over the years had been incorporated into the rebuilding, improved deck crew shelters, backup power generators, multi-redundant atmospheric retention force fields, improved communications, and improved rapid transit for the Viper pilots have been added to both launch bays. Apollo had seen proposals for the updates as part of his duties as senior Colonial Fleet officer and as President of the Council. Again, to see the actual changes in place on the Galactica was stunning. He noted a curtained off area at the far forward end of the bay, and was about to look behind the curtain, but Starbuck held him back and simply said, "Later."

After touring the launch bays, the party was shown the propulsion and power section in the stern of the Galactica. To get there they used the new turbo-lift and turbo-tram service. There Stevens pointed out the refurbished sub-light and supra-light drives and updated power reactors, updated power distribution systems, and updated control systems.

Finally, the tour led to the Galactica's new Combat Information Center. There Steven's showed off the ship's new battle management system and all new weapon and sensor interfaces. The original bridge was maintained as the Viper wing's flight control and maneuvering center for the battlestar. While in the CIC, Starbuck gave a brief overview on the changes to the Galactica's offensive and defensive weaponry. An EDN style Aegis defensive laser turret controller had been integrated into the Galactica's computer system allowing the battlestar and any assigned escorts to coordinate defensive fire. Additional defensive laser turrets had been emplaced to cover all the blind spots in the ship's perimeter.

Stevens led the impressed Colonial guests back to the new Alpha launch bay. There he and Starbuck led Apollo and the others to the curtain concealing the forward section of the bay. After everyone had gathered, Starbuck pulled a lanyard and the curtain fell to reveal a modified Viper fighter.

"I present to you the Viper Two," Starbuck announced proudly while stepping aside. Apollo, Sheba and the other squadron leaders quickly stepped forward to get a closer look at the new fighter.

"We've exchanged the slab-sided canopy with a bubble canopy for greater visibility," Starbuck went on. "We then added a heads-up display, made the stick more multi-functional, no more reaching for controls in the middle of a daggit fight, and we've added the ability to launch four EDN anti-fighter missiles." Apollo and the other Viper pilots all nodded their heads while listening to the changes.

"So," Starbuck began while addressing Apollo and Sheba. "What do you think of my old Viper?"

"This is your old Viper," Apollo asked incredulously.

"It sure is," Starbuck went on. "I've been tinkering with it on and off for the last twenty years. A Viper is just too small to integrate all the improvements that we put into the Lightnings and Avengers."

Apollo heard the other council members talk amongst themselves about how to put the improved Viper into production while his fellow warriors walked around the Viper noting the new changes. Stevens and Starbuck let this go on for a few minutes then announced that it was time for lunch. Stevens led the party back out of the launch bay, across the bridges to the work platforms and onto the main surface of the dome. They then made their way to the dome's cafeteria for the noon meal.

A short time later Stevens and Starbuck, again led their guests back into the work area of the dome, this time they walked to the bow of the Galactica where people, mostly the engineers and workers that had spent the last few years restoring the battlestar to a like new condition, were gathering near a large number of folding chairs. A large podium had been set up at one corner of the ship's bow. There a simple mechanism was set up beside the podium. On either side of the podium were the flag of the Colonies and the Galactica battle flag.

_Now, what does that do_, Apollo asked himself as he followed Stevens to the VIP seating in the front row of the chairs. Off to one side he could see tables with rows of glasses and a large refrigerator set up. Staff from the cafeteria was standing behind the tables. Stevens and Starbuck made their way over to the podium and activated a microphone.

"Would you all take your seats please," Stevens requested. There was a moment of shuffling as the audience found their seats and sat down.

"Over five hundred years ago," Stevens began, "this battlestar, the Galactica was launched from the Caprica Fleet shipyard. She and her crew participated in many battles against the Cylons. So many battles it would take hours to list them all. She and her crew acquitted themselves with honor while defending the Colonies from the Cylon menace.

"After the Battle of Cimtar, during the flight from the Colonies, she defended the civilian ships of the Fleet in the Battle of Carillon, the Battle of Otarsis Quadrant, the Battle of Kobol, the Battle of Gamoray, and the Battle at the Galaxy's Edge. She finally helped to defend the Earth in the Battle of Mars. Sadly, the traitor, Count Baltar, committed one final atrocity against the Colonial people by setting off a suicide nuclear explosive inside the Galactica's alpha landing bay.

"Since that day of both victory and horror the Galactica has lain here on Ceres. Here she recovered from her grievous wounds and the affects of time.

"Today, the Galactica returns to where she belongs. Not here on the surface of a dwarf planet, but in the depths of space where she can stretch her wings and, again, defend those under her protection." Stevens paused for a second.

"American tradition currently holds that a prominent woman should be the one to honor a ship as she receives her name at the time of launch. The Galactica has a name, but she has laid so long here on Ceres that her name should be re-confirmed. Would Siress Uri and Captain Sheba please come up here and join me."

The two woman each gave their husbands a 'why me' look while standing. A moment later they were on the platform with Admiral Stevens. Stevens retrieved a bottle from within the podium.

"After the Galactica was set down here on Ceres," Stevens started, "a complete inventory was performed to make sure all personal property was given to their owners while any military property was set aside for storage or repair. During that search we learned that many of the warrior survival kits on each Viper contained a water bottle. After examining the packaging for these bottles we learned that we have a selection of water from each of the twelve colonies. Navy tradition holds that a ship should be wetted during her commissioning with her homeland's waters."

Stevens retrieved eleven more one liter bottles from below the podium. He then withdrew a single bottle of California sparkling wine

"Navy tradition also holds that a ship launching is a celebration and that the ship should also be given a drink." He placed the wine bottle in the mechanism behind the podium.

"Ladies, if you wish to say anything at this time, you may," Stevens said while stepping away from the microphone.

Siress Uri and Sheba looked at each other. Sheba nodded her assent. Siress Uri stepped up to the microphone.

"Thank you, Admiral Stevens, for this rare opportunity," she began. "The Colonial Fleet does not have a comparable ceremony to this and I appreciate your leading us through yours. Yes, the Galactica deserves the respect that she and her crews have earned." She picked up a water bottle, quickly read which colony the water had come from, and opened it.

"I can only hope that someday the Galactica will lead our people back to the Colonies to reclaim our home worlds." She then poured the water over the nearest section of hull plating of the Galactica. The water slowly dripped down to the bow's support platform below. "For Taura," she finished softly.

Sheba then stepped forward and took one of the water bottles. "I wish to echo Siress Uri thoughts." She looked up again at the Galactica. "The Cylons will return to the Earth to try to finish what they started on the Colonies, the extermination of Mankind. I will do my part to ensure that doesn't happen." She then poured out her bottle on the Galactica's hull. "For Leo," she concluded. Siress Uri and Sheba then took turns emptying the water bottles onto the Galactica. Each time they cited the name of one of the colonies.

Stevens stepped back to the microphone, looked quickly over his shoulder at the Galactica, and back down towards the guests.

"Today, the Galactica returns to the stars where she belongs. May she inspire all who fight on her or with her and may the Cylons tremble with fear at the sight of her." He took one hand from each of the two women with him and placed them on the activation lever of the mechanism. He then pressed the release. The bottle of wine was then smashed against the hull of the Galactica. Frothy wine, bubbles flying everywhere in the low gravity, was spread all over the bow of the ship. At the same time corks were pulled from several more bottles of sparkling wine by the stewards at the tables. The American assembled among the guests raised a cheer as they stood to their feet.

"Hip, hip, hurray," they called three times. One of the stewards started some recorded classical music.

"Please join me for a drink," Stevens called as he stepped down from the podium and bounded over to the tables being stocked with glasses of sparkling wine.

While the guests enjoyed their drink celebrating the rebirth of the Galactica, work crews and a small staff of Navy officers and technicians boarded the Galactica. They began the process of bringing the battlestar back to life.

A short while later the guests retreated to the Dome 3 operations center. There they had their eyes glued to a set of large flat screen monitors. The Dome had been evacuated and the atmosphere pumped into storage tanks.

"Power levels are at 100 percent. Maneuvering and main propulsion are on standby," they heard announced from the bridge of the Galactica over a radio connection.

"We're opening the roof," a technician called back while activating a switch. On a monitor out on the surface of Ceres the guests could see the camouflaged roof of the crater begin to rise and split apart slowly as giant hydraulic units pushed the pressure bearing panels upward and outward. Once the doors were completely open other hydraulic units began to lift the Galactica up and out of the dome. Slowly the battlestar was raised out of the dome. Once the ship was completely clear of the dome's walls the lifts stopped.

"Galactica, you are now clear for take-off," a technician announced from the operations center.

"Very well," replied the radio operator on the Galactica.

After a moment lights began to flare from the battlestar's maneuvering propulsion units. The guests could feel a faint rumbling through the floor of the operations center. The Galactica slowly lifted herself off of the platforms she had lain on for so long. Then the ship's nose pitched up and the Galactica began moving forward and upwards away from the surface of Ceres, back into space where she belonged.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – 14 June 2010

After launching, the temporary crew on board the Galactica placed the ship into a parallel solar orbit not far from Ceres. Then they gave the ship a slight roll and yaw to mimic the motion of a random asteroid.

After the launch the members of the Council of the Twelve, including Apollo excused themselves from the Dome 3 control center and took over a nearby meeting room. There they called the Council into session. The other Colonial guests, the Council member's wives and the Colonial officers, were escorted back to the main dome of Ceres base by EDN officers. The Viper pilots were glad to know that some of their EDN escorts were from the F-1 Lightning squadron now assigned to the Ceres base.

During that time the Ceres base officer's club dining room and an adjacent bar were set up for the evening's banquet. At four-o-clock the Council session adjourned so that the members could prepare themselves for the formal banquet. Apollo and the rest of the council members quickly made their way back to the main dome and their temporary quarters. Apollo found his wife in their rooms putting on her dress uniform. He donned his own blue dress uniform, including the cape, while she was putting the finishing touches to her hair and makeup.

A knock on their door announced the arrival of Admiral Stevens.

"Would you like to accompany me to the Officer's Club for a drink before we dine?" Stevens asked formally.

"We would enjoy that," Apollo replied. A few minutes later they were at the club's bar area where they joined the other Colonial and EDN guests for cocktails. Stevens, Apollo, Sheba, and Starbuck then sat down at a reserved table to enjoy their drinks. Conversations flowed around them. Topics ranged from 'what's for dinner' to 'I can't wait to get back on board the Galactica'. All those in the bar area could hear a live military band practicing in the dining room.

"What news is there from the Council meeting," Stevens' asked after ordering the first round of drinks.

"Sire Uri will make an announcement during the banquet," Apollo said with a sheepish grin. Sheba and Stevens immediately guessed what that announcement could be.

"I'm so proud, honey," she immediately said.

"Congratulations," Stevens added.

A few minutes later the band started playing 'Attention.' Shortly after that a uniformed drummer and a fifer playing a colonial America era song led the Chef and a kitchen assistant who were carrying a large platter of roast beef into the bar area, stopping in front of Admiral Stevens table.

"Roast beef of Old England," the Chef announced loudly while the assistant cut a small piece from the giant roast, placed it on a saucer, and offered the saucer and a fork to Stevens. He took a bite while Apollo and Sheba looked on with bemused looks on their faces. In fact, conversation had stopped in the bar. All the guests in the bar were watching. The EDN officers all had amused grins.

"This meat is fit for consumption," Stevens loudly replied.

"Dinner will be served in ten minutes," the Chef then announced. The drummer, fifer, Chef, and his assistant then marched in step with the same song back to the kitchen with the platter of meat.

"We'll go into the dining room when the band starts up again," Stevens said to those at his table.

"It seems like some very old traditions are being used this evening," Sheba said.

"You are correct," Stevens replied. "This kind of banquet is called a Dining Out. The tradition comes from mother England long before the United States became a nation. All of the armed services of the US have dining in and dining out traditions."

"What's the difference," Apollo asked.

"A dining in has no guests while a dining out does; such as spouses and civilians. A dining in can get a bit lively as the practical joking can get out of hand. A dining out is more formal."

The band in the dining room started up again playing 'Officer's Call.' Stevens and Starbuck both stood.

"Please join us in the dining room," Stevens asked loudly as the other EDN officers also stood. "There are places at the head table for the Council members and their spouses. Please consult the seating chart and the placards on the tables for the other seating assignments." He then led Starbuck, Apollo, and Sheba into the dining room.

It took a few minutes for the guests and participants to find their seats. At the center of the head table was a small podium. Stevens sat to the right of the podium. Apollo was seated to Stevens' right and Sheba was to Apollo's right. Sire Uri was to the left of the podium and Uri's wife was to his left. The pattern was repeated for the other Council members and their wives. A table on the main floor was reserved for all the other Colonial officers, while two others were for the EDN officers and Ceres base civilians.

While the guests were finding their seats the band switched to playing 'Anchors Aweigh.' The EDN and Colonial guests remained standing as they saw Stevens, Apollo and Sheba standing behind their seats at the head table.

Momentarily the band finished playing. "The mess night to honor the return to service of the Battlestar Galactica is now open; ladies and gentlemen, the grace."

The Ceres base chaplain then stepped before the high table and turned to face the guest tables. "Please bow your heads," he began. "Lord, creator of all things, please bless this gathering and the food we are about to eat. Please watch over us as we enjoy this time together as you watch over all of your children. We ask these things in the name of your son, our savior. Amen."

"Seats," Stevens called loudly. The attendees of the dinner took their seats as the band started up again. They started with a Glenn Miller tune. Casual conversation started up while the kitchen staff started bringing out the meal. First they distributed appetizers, portabella mushrooms stuffed with Italian herbs and cheese, while others filled up the water and wine glasses. The first wine of the evening was a cabernet sauvignon.

A short while later the staff noticed that most of the appetizers had been consumed. They began distributing green salads with Italian vinaigrette dressing fresh from the moon base's gardens while others refilled the wine and water glasses.

Again, the staff waited until most had eaten their salads, then they began to bring out the main course, the traditional roast beef with baked potatoes, steamed mixed vegetables, and dinner rolls. The men fell to eating their meals with gusto. During the long flight to Earth beef, or bovine as they called it, was extremely rare. It was only available for an extremely high price on the resort ship, the Rising Star. Beef became immediately and extremely popular after the fleet's peoples were settled in South Dakota and Nebraska. Especially since those states were known for raising cattle.

Many of the female guests, Sheba included, groaned inwardly at the quantity of food and drink being offered to them. Sheba looked askance at her husband and patted her belly.

"Too much," she whispered to him while hiding her lips with a wine glass.

He winked back at her and stuffed a bite of meat into his mouth, slightly enjoying his wife's discomfort. Most of the wives of the council members were older than Sheba and had let their figures go; even they were having a hard time keeping up with their husbands and the extremely fit EDN officers.

_Their metabolisms are probably still in high gear_, Sheba moaned inwardly as she swore to herself to increase her exercise regimen, at least temporarily.

Finally, to Sheba's relief, a bowl of fresh cantaloupe, honeydew, and water melon was served as the dessert.

Admiral Stevens, as the mess president, examined the dining room ten minutes later and noted that most people had finished eating. Some were leaning back in their chairs to give some relief to their full stomachs. He then signaled with his fork for the staff to clear the tables, which they quickly did. At the same time they placed clean wine glasses and decanters of port, the second wine of the evening, on the tables. Stevens then motioned for the band to stop playing. He then rose from his seat.

"Mr., Vice," he announced loudly, "To his Excellency, the President of the Twelve Colonies of Man."

Starbuck rose from his seat, raised his wine glass and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, His Excellency, The President of the Twelve Colonies of Man."

All the EDN officers, the Ceres base civilians, and a few Colonial ones that had read the program or had otherwise caught on stood up with their glasses. "His Excellency, The President of the Twelve Colonies of Man," they said in unison. Then they all drank a toast to Apollo. The band then played the Anthem of the Colonies. After the anthem was played, all the attendees sat back down.

Starbuck then picked up a small oil lamp whose wick was already burning, and carried it to the head table and placed it before Admiral Stevens. Stevens passed Apollo a cigar and then the lit lamp.

"It's ok if you don't want to smoke," Stevens said in a soft voice.

"That's ok," Apollo replied just as softly while picking up the cigar. He then leaned down with the cigar in his mouth and tried to light the cigar. He succeeded in a couple of small puffs then quickly placed the cigar in the ash tray. Stevens, who was also a non-smoker, took a couple of ceremonial puffs of his own cigar and set it down.

"The smoking lamp is lit," Stevens announced. Starbuck then quickly returned to his seat. A formal mess being one of the few occasions he was allowed to smoke, Starbuck quickly lit his own cigar, and with a wide smile on his face, began to savor its fresh taste. Starbuck was not smoking alone. Several other EDN and Colonial officers lit their own cigars. Small clouds of blue smoke quickly formed and, just as quickly, were sucked away by the ventilation system.

Noting Starbuck's behavior, Stevens leaned over towards Apollo. "The things we have to do for our men," he said softly.

"Indeed," Apollo replied with a wry grin. He noted that his son Boxey, seated at the Colonial officer's table was studying the official program for the mess night. Boxey then stood up and faced the head table.

"Mr. President, I have a point of order," he said.

"Lieutenant Boxey, Colonial Fleet," Stevens replied after standing.

"Mr. President, to the Commander In Chief of the Earth Defense Navy," Boxey said.

As Admiral Stevens was the commanding officer of the EDN, Starbuck stood up for the toast.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the Commander In Chief of the Earth Defense Navy," he said. Having caught on, the Colonial officers and civilians joined with the EDN officers and civilians.

"The Commander In Chief of the Earth Defense Navy," they toasted in unison. Stevens nodded his thanks as the assembly took a sip from their glass.

An EDN officer then stood up and faced the head table.

"Mr. President, I have a point of order," he said.

"Lieutenant Anderson," Stevens replied after standing.

"Mr. President, to the Earth Defense Navy Marine Corps," Anderson said.

Stevens stood up with his glass. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Earth Defense Navy Marine Corps," he said.

"The Earth Defense Navy Marine Corps," all the attendees toasted in unison. The band then played the Marine Corps Hymn, "The Halls of Montezuma"

"Ladies and gentlemen," Stevens began after the hymn concluded. "This concludes the first portion of this evening's Dining Out. The Mess will recess for ten minutes and will reconvene at the tables."

Casual conversation erupted as many of the attendees headed towards the restrooms. Ten minutes later the band began to play big band music again signaling that the mess should reconvene in the dining room. Once everyone was settled and seated Admiral Stevens stood up, this time behind the podium.

"Good evening," he began. "I want to welcome you to our Mess Night and I hope that you are all enjoying this special occasion. I want to particularly welcome Colonial President Apollo, his lovely wife Sheba. I also want to give our sincere welcome to the other Colonial Council members and their spouses; Sire and Siress Uri, Sire and Siress Anton, Sire and Siress Antipas, Sire and Siress Montrose, Sire and Siress Gellar, Siress Tinia, Sire and Siress Domra, Siress Blassie, Sire and Sires Barnabus, Sire and Siress Malik, and Sire and Siress Dabir. Welcome also to the officers of the Colonial Fleet. We appreciate your coming here to witness the re-commissioning of your great ship and to share this fine dinner with us.

"Now, the man sitting next to me needs no introduction, yet much can be said about him and his accomplishments as a Colonial Fleet officer, Viper pilot and politician. I give you the President of the Council of the Twelve, Apollo." Stevens clapped his hands, the mess following his example, as Apollo stood up. Stevens returned to his seat while Apollo addressed the mess from the podium.

"Thank you, Admiral Stevens," he began. "It is indeed a great honor to be here with all of you on this occasion. Today is a day of rebirth, first for the last Colonial Battlestar, the Galactica, but also for the Colonial Fleet. This day has been a long time coming.

"With the restoration of the Galactica, most Colonial Fleet members will be returning to active duty. It is time for the Colonial Fleet to share in the responsibility of protecting the Earth from the Cylons.

"In addition, The Council has approved the future production of additional ships for the Colonial Fleet. They will need crews too. To that end, Sire Uri has some announcements to make. The esteemed Sire Uri," Apollo announced while stepping aside and applauding.

Uri stood and stepped behind the podium. "Thank you, President Apollo. Today, the Council of the Twelve met just after the launching of the Galactica. You already know of one decision that was made, the approval of production of additional ships for the Colonial Fleet. The Fleet will need new officers and crews. The Fleet will also need a new leader. President Apollo, you are the highest ranking officer currently in the Fleet. The Council has approved your promotion to Commander, congratulations."

The mess erupted in applause at the announcement. Once the applause settled down Uri continued.

"There are other promotions to announce," he said. "The new First Officer of the Galactica will be Colonel Omega."

Omega, the Galactica's long suffering flight officer, looked up in surprise. Finally he was being given a command position and, with the future production of new ships, the possibility of commanding his own ship, maybe even a new battlestar. He half rose from his chair and bowed his thanks to the Council.

"The new wing commander for the Galactica's squadrons will be Colonel Bojay, congratulations," Uri announced. Again, the mess applauded for Bojay's good fortune. Wing commander was not a traditional Colonial Fleet position. Yet, with Apollo's long tenure in that position on the Galactica and with the EDNs example, the position was now permanent. The former Battlestar Pegasus strike leader, a smile firmly planted on his face, signaled his thanks to the Council.

"Serving under Colonel Bojay as the new leader of Blue Squadron will be Captain Boxey."

Apollo's adopted son stood, gave his parents a wide grin, and saluted his thanks to the rest of the Council.

"For Green Squadron, Lieutenant Tobias is promoted to Captain," Uri went on. Again, the mess applauded the promotion.

"There are other promotions," Uri went on, "but the recipients are not present here." Uri turned to Apollo. "President and Commander Apollo, you have the earned trust of the Colonial people. May the Lords of Kobol bless your command of the Galactica. Again, congratulations." Uri stepped down. Admiral Stevens replaced Uri at the podium.

"The floor is now open for informal toasts," he announced then he sat down again.

Several informal toasts were given by various EDN officers. They ranged from someone bringing their drink in from the bar prior to the meal which earned the offender a trip to the grog bowl to a presentation of a box of cigars to Captain Starbuck for his service to the EDN over the years. Once the informal toasts were completed Admiral Stevens raised his glass of wine.

"Ladies and gentlemen, to the Earth Defense Navy," he toasted.

Starbuck brought a carafe of wine to the head table and filled all the guests' glasses again. He then turned to face the mess. All the EDN officers stood. The rests of the guests followed suit, knowing a toast was being made.

"To the Earth Defense Navy," Starbuck called out loudly. He then drank all the wine remaining in his glass; bottoms up. The band again played, "Anchors Aweigh."

Stevens then addressed the mess again a final time. "I want to thank President Apollo, the rest of the Council of the Twelve, the officers of the Colonial Fleet and their wives for being our guests this mess night. Captain Starbuck, we appreciate your making this mess night a success. I hope all of you have enjoyed spending the evening with us. Will you join me at the bar?" He then led the way out of the dining room.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – 2 July 2010

San Francisco, California, USA

It was almost ten in the morning on a fairly nice day. A large cabin cruiser worked its way slowly through the chop at the entrance to San Francisco bay. The Golden Gate Bridge loomed ahead of them. The crew on the cruiser, a married couple, dedicated to their cause, knew their destination. They were to dock just south of pier 40 in South Beach Harbor.

Two days earlier, the cruiser and its crew were screened in San Diego by the US Coast Guard. Of course no contraband was detected. The crew, as were all the crews assigned to the project, was specifically directed that they were not to carry any alcohol or drugs. Also they were only to carry enough cash in dollars and enough food and other items for personal consumption only. No suspicion was to be raised about them. Fake passports from various countries had been issued to the many crews involved in the project. Bank accounts and credit cards issued to the IDs on the fake passports were also created. Nor were these accounts abused so no suspicion could be raised. This particular crew was listed as from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, though in reality they were from Beirut, Lebanon.

By ten forty-five, the crew had docked their boat in South Beach Harbor. Weeks ago they had signed up for dock based power and telephone lines. These were now connected to their boat. The leader of the team, the husband, descended into the main salon of the cruiser and turned on his laptop computer. Once it was booted up he connected it to the telephone line and logged onto his e-mail service.

"_Pablo,_

"_We're down at the harbor. When are you coming to pick us up?_

"_Juan"_

'Juan' encrypted the message using a hard to decipher commercial program and sent it to a recently created Yahoo e-mail account. The reply came a minute later.

"_Juan,_

"_We'll be there soon. As you know, the appointment is for 11:00._

"_Pablo"_

'Juan' read after deciphering it.

"It won't be long now," 'Juan' told his wife. "Everything is on schedule." He hugged his wife, and then they took out their prayer rugs, aligned them to Mecca, and knelt down to pray. Fifteen minutes later their prayers were answered, but not how they imagined they would be.

North American Aerospace Defense Command, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, USA

The US Air Force Master Sergeant stretched his arms above his head. So far it had been an uneventful day at NORAD's command center buried deep below the granite monolith of Cheyenne Mountain. The ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan were concerns, but they had no real impact to the integrity of North American airspace. It was noon and the Master Sergeant was looking forward to going to get his lunch, but his relief had not come in yet. Then alarms lit themselves up on his console. Several of the Defense Support Program satellites, ones that looked over North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia had detected something. He quickly got onto the intercom.

"DSP satellites eleven, seventeen and twenty are reporting multiple thermal events," he announced as calmly as he could, though a slight quaver had entered his voice as he looked further in to the information being received from the satellites.

"Plot the locations on the big board," the commander in chief of NORAD, a US Navy admiral, ordered using the intercom from his perch above and behind the various radar and satellite monitoring stations within the command center. The Master Sergeant quickly sent the information from the satellites to the main plotting screen while continuing his analysis.

"All indicated locations show double pulse signatures of nuclear detonations," the Master Sergeant added.

All in the command center could see the red splotches over various coastal cities in North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. In North America detonations were shown in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, New Orleans, Washington D.C., New York, and Montreal. In Europe there were detonations in London, Edinburgh, Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Lisbon, Rome, and Athens. In Southeast Asia the explosions were in Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland. Finally, a single explosion occurred in Haifa, Israel.

"I want yield and detailed location data for each indication," the admiral ordered while picking up his Gold Telephone; his direct line to the White House. There was no reply at the other end of the phone, so he picked up one of his red telephones which connected him immediately to the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska.

"Satellite data shows an initial estimate of yield for each event at approximately one hundred and fifty kilotons," the Master Sergeant announced.

_That's consistent with two stage thermonuclear devices_, the admiral thought. He relayed the information to the commander of Strategic Command.

The Air Force General in charge of the US Strategic Command listened carefully to the commander of NORAD who was also CINC of Northern Command, the commander of all homeland defenses. He was not in his command center, which was buried several levels underground beneath his office building, but in his normal office. If he were there he would be seeing much of the same information as the commander in NORAD was seeing. He thanked the commander of NORAD and set that particular Red Telephone down and picked up a differently labeled Red Telephone, one that led directly to his command center.

"By orders of NorthCom," he began after the command center duty officer answered, "all StratCom units are to go to DEFCON One." He then got up and began the short trip down to his command center.

At the NORAD command center, the admiral picked up the intercom. "Set all NorthCom forces at DEFCON 1," he ordered. "Be advised, StratCom is also at DEFCON 1," he added. _Since all the explosions were at ground or sea level_ _the electromagnetic pulse from each explosion only affected the local area_, he thought_. Most satellite and ground based communications should remain intact._

"I want someone monitoring the Internet news sites and Aljazeera," he ordered. "This is probably the act of terrorists. Someone or some group will probably announce that they were responsible for this attack and make a list of demands." _Al-Qaida must have hit us again_, he thought while several of the technicians turned on internet browsers and began monitoring several common news sites.

Then alarms sounded throughout the room. "We're at DEFCON 1," an officer announced over the intercom while the DEFCON indicator changed.

"A statement is being shown on Aljazeera," someone else in the command center announced.

"Put it on the big screen," the admiral ordered. One corner of the big plotting screen was quickly replaced by feed from the Aljazeera television network's website.

"Al-Qaida announces that the final jihad against the West is now under way. Allah, may His name be praised, has blessed the Muslim peoples with the means of accomplishing this jihad. We call upon all our Muslim brothers throughout the West to rise up against the infidels while they are paralyzed by our attack while we will begin our own attacks against the infidels. The Great Satan and the Lesser Satan have now been brought low. They will not be able to interfere with the establishment of the New Righteous Caliphate. Allah the Merciful will bless those who participate in this holy and righteous jihad against the Crusader Nations."

While all this was going on, one of the NORAD technicians, also a Master Sergeant made a quick phone call to his wife. She then called her sister in Naper, Nebraska. The message then was relayed to EDN headquarters on the moon base.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 – 2 July 2010

Colonial Vipers and Cylon Raiders swarmed around each other in a dance of death not far from Neptune's moon Triton. The Galactica, with an EDN escort squadron, had intercepted the Cylons, and their base ship, before they could launch a strike against Earth.

"Blue Three," Captain Boxey called. "You have a pinwheel forming on you, evade."

The unfortunate colonial warrior, newly assigned to Blue Squadron from the Training Squadron, thumbed his turbo boosters, but not in time to avoid the attack.

"Gotcha," Captain Starbuck called from the lead Cylon fighter involved in the pinwheel attack as he fired his lasers at Blue Three's Viper.

"Frack," the ensign called as he saw his MILES (Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System) indicator light up with a blinking red light. He reduced his speed and flew his Viper back to the Galactica. A computer on board the battlestar was keeping a record of Vipers that were simulated as either damaged or destroyed. Another computer on board the Lexington, the EDNs Aggressor Squadron's home base for the exercise, was keeping a similar record. Meanwhile, the remaining Vipers continued their engagement against the Aggressor Squadron.

The Aggressor Squadron used mock Cylon Raiders built on an F-1 Lightning frame. The flight characteristics of the Lightning were very similar to a Raider. This allowed the Aggressor Squadron to be used for highly realistic training of, first the EDN squadrons, and now the Colonials.

Commander's Log: 2 July 2010

"This morning we began our first fleet exercise," Apollo began his daily log entry. "We were assigned an escort group from the EDN and operated against their Lexington task force. We were assigned to defend Neptune's moon Triton from a mock Cylon attack. To make things more interesting the EDN used what they call their Aggressor Squadron; a squadron of mock Cylon Raiders. We managed to achieve a bloody draw. Our warriors are getting back into fighting shape. A few more exercises like this one and I'll be willing to match our warriors against the Cylons again.

"Colonel Bojay is driving himself, and the warriors, hard to get them back into shape after their nearly five year vacation. Even Sheba has complained a little about how hard he is working the warriors. Still, the hard work is starting to show. In previous exercises the EDN handed our warriors several defeats. Now, they are getting their confidence back. They make me proud."

During the previous month, after the re-commissioning and launch of the Galactica, Apollo and the Council had worked hard to recruit a crew for the ship. First, he had recalled from reserve duty all the officers and enlisted personnel still on the Fleet's rolls. Many of the long serving, though older personnel had returned to duty. Yet, many of the more recently recruited, younger personnel, those who had enlisted during the exodus from the Colonies, had separated from Colonial service. Apollo and the Council then set up a recruitment drive to replace them. While the recruitment drive was underway, the recalled veterans with support from the EDN gave the rebuilt battlestar a strenuous shakedown cruise. After the Galactica had passed every test that the Chief Engineer and his staff could come up with Apollo had declared the Galactica operational and fully returned to active duty. While the balance of the crew was recruited from the Colonial remnant, the Galactica began formal service with a mixed, though mostly Colonial, crew.

Apollo stood up from his desk. He again looked around his and Sheba's, formerly his father's, quarters._ Father, I wish you were here_, he again thought. Then he made his way to the new CIC (Combat Information Center).

Colonel Omega stepped over to Apollo as he entered.

"Commander, the EDN Escorts have departed back to the moon base."

"Thank you, Colonel," Apollo replied. "We'll stay here at Neptune for the time being. I want Colonel Bojay to conduct further training of the squadrons well away from the prying eyes of the Earth's telescopes and probes."

"I'll inform Bojay," Omega replied. He then stepped over to the new internal communications station in the CIC to have a message sent.

"Incoming message from EDN headquarters," the technician announced from the adjacent external communications station, which superseded the old Colonial Fleet Comline.

"What does it say," Apollo asked as he joined Omega by the communication stations.

"Oh my god," the technician said softly before going on, "there have been nuclear detonations on Earth."

"Lords of Kobol," Apollo exclaimed while his face paled.

The technician printed the message out and handed it to Apollo. He began reading it while Omega looked over the shoulder of the technician to read the message on the monitor.

"Admiral Stevens says that there is no immediate threat to our civilians," Apollo said while reading. "He says that full radiation protection protocols are being enacted to protect them. He requests an urgent meeting to discuss this event."

Omega looked up from his reading. A worried look was spread across his face. All through the years of being the Galactica's lead Flight Officer he had never pursued a mate. During the five years since settling on Earth, in Herrick, SD, he had married. Just recently he and his wife were blessed with a daughter. He prayed a quick, silent prayer asking God to protect his family and the rest of the Colonials there.

"I'll order a shuttle prepared," he said.

"The crew needs to be informed; all senior officers are to meet in the wardroom in fifteen centons," Apollo ordered.

"I'll make the announcement," Omega replied. He then turned to the internal communications station. A moment later the announcement was sent out over the ship-wide intercom. During the reconstruction Apollo had accepted the suggestion from the EDN shipwrights to make changes to the battlestar's interior layout. One of the changes was to create an officer's dining room in the same style as on EDN ships. The wardroom was separate from the Viper pilots' ready room, formerly the officer's club. It was located closer to the Bridge and CIC. Comparatively, the pilot's ready room was located further aft to facilitate the Warriors quick deployment to their fighters. Living spaces were also rearranged so that all junior officers were quartered two to a room and all officers ranked Captain and above had private, though small, rooms.

At the appointed time Apollo entered the Galactica's new wardroom. Omega was still in CIC so Colonel Bojay was senior officer present.

"Attention," he ordered loudly as Apollo came in the door. The loud murmuring of the officers present immediately stopped.

"As you were," Apollo quickly ordered as he made his way to the center of the room. He could see that, except for Omega and the current flight officer, Rigel, who was on the bridge, and his son Boxey, who was still conducting flight operations, he had most of senior officers present. Bojay and the other squadron leaders were present along with the Chief Engineer, the Flight Deck Division leader, the Chief Medical Officer, and most of the others.

"I called you here because of some grave news from Earth," Apollo began. "Over twenty Western cities have suffered nuclear explosions. The USA received the most, with seven cities destroyed. EDN Intelligence believes that these are the result of terrorist actions. There is no immediate threat to the Tri-Cities, but we may have lost a few of our loved ones who may have been traveling or away on business in the attack. The EDN has begun a radiation protection protocol for all residents of the Tri-Cities. I will be leaving in a few centons to fly to the moon base to discuss this attack. You are authorized to brief those personnel in your squadrons or crew divisions. Colonel Omega will be in command and will be available to answer your questions during my absence. Now, you know as much as I do. I'll brief you again after I return from the meeting. You may return to your duties."

As Apollo turned to leave the wardroom worried conversations broke out amongst the Galactica's officers and the few kitchen staff that overheard Apollo announcement. Sheba quickly stepped up to Apollo as he was leaving.

"I'm worried about the family," she said. Ruth and her full brother Zac had requested to remain on reserve status from the Colonial service right after the announcement of the recall. They were both still pursuing their college studies and wanted to finish their degrees before returning to service.

"I'm worried too," Apollo replied. He led her out into the corridor and gave her a quick kiss. "I'll be back as soon as I can." He gave her a final kiss before leaving her to go to the launch bay where his shuttle was waiting.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – 2 July 2010

It took several hours for Apollo's shuttle to make the trip from Neptune to the Moon. After landing he was immediately escorted by a shocked EDN marine to the base's executive conference room. There he saw Admiral Stevens, Captain Starbuck, who had just flown in from the Lexington, and two others whom he would soon learn were Ron and Mark Davis, waiting for him. The conference room had a central table and chairs. At one end of the room was a flat screen monitor connected to a computer sitting at the head of the table. That is where Mark Davis was seated.

"Come in, Mr. President," Admiral Stevens said while waving toward a seat at the conference table.

"I'm sorry it took so long," Apollo replied while sitting and nodding a hello to Starbuck. All there knew how long the trip from Neptune would be despite Apollo's shuttle spending most of the trip at light-speed. He had not been introduced to the Davis brothers."I wish circumstances were different."

"Indeed," Stevens replied. "These gentlemen are Ron and Mark Davis. They are the other half of the leadership for the EDN and Colonial Industries."

"Ron's son Steve was the first person I met on Earth," Starbuck quickly added.

"Ah, yes I remember you telling me about that," Apollo asked while sticking his hand out. "I'm pleased to meet you."

"Likewise," Ron replied while shaking Apollo's hand, Earth style.

"Hello," Mark said while shaking Apollo's hand in turn.

"We have a lot to talk about," Stevens said. "First of all, what needs to be done to ensure the safety of our personnel on Earth; second, the attack and Al-Qaeda's demands; and third, any response to the attack we can make under these circumstances."

"Your message said that you have enacted a radiation protection protocol in the Tri-Cities," Apollo said. "Please explain that."

"That means," Ron Davis replied, "that Iodine tablets have been distributed to prevent Thyroid Gland damage and shelters have been set up in the Tri-Cities; Naper, St. Charles, and Herrick, to protect them from any fallout, radioactive particles left over from the nuclear devices, that might blow in over the next few weeks.

"Do you know if the explosions were aerial or on the ground," Apollo asked.

"We've learned while you and Starbuck were flying here that all the explosions were on the ground or water," Stevens replied.

"Then there will be more fallout than from airbursts," Mark Davis said.

"The shelters will still protect our people," Ron said.

"Not, quite," Stevens added. "We have people in other locations across America and I am sure that some of the Colonials are traveling or have moved on to other places since the settlement."

"We've been in contact with our people that were not in target cities," Ron added. "We may have lost those in the targeted cities. I've instructed our people to send out search parties for those who haven't checked in."

"As you said, I'm sure we lost a few too," Apollo said sadly. "Still, most of our people are safe for the time being. Likewise, I would like to contact the rest of the Council of the Twelve. I'll have them coordinate a search for the missing."

"That leads us to our second subject, Al-Queda and the attack," Stevens said. "What do we now know of the attack?"

"We know that 23 nuclear explosions occurred in as many cities around the world," Mark Davis began while activating the conference room's computer screen. "All of them were in the advanced, democratic nations of Europe, the America's, and Australia, plus Israel." He brought up a map showing the locations of the target cities. "As was just mentioned, all of the explosions were ground bursts. We assume that the nuclear devices were somehow smuggled into the target nations and cities." He changed to a second picture. "Going back, this is the expected fallout foot prints based on current weather forecasts and US Department of Defense fallout analysis."

"These are almost all coastal cities," Apollo observed.

"Or the cities have major waterways in them," Stevens added. "Yes, we noticed this. You are assuming that all the devices were smuggled by sea. This does not rule out smuggling of the explosives by other routes."

Mark Davis changed the image on the computer screen. "This is the statement issued by Al-Qaeda not minutes after the first explosion occurred."

Apollo and Starbuck quickly read the text on the screen. The others waited patiently as they had already read the statement.

"It is clear from this statement," Ron began, "that they want nothing less than world domination under Islam and the destruction of The West and Western Culture or cultures."

"I see," Apollo replied. "The Council has been concerned with the global terrorism conflict over recent years. We saw that this kind of attack was possible, but very unlikely."

"As did EDN Intelligence," Mark Davis added. "Now, what can we do about it?"

"We have a firm directive from the Angels on the Ship of Lights not to interfere with the natural course of events on Earth," Stevens said.

"Then is there anything that we can do," Apollo asked while remembering that Starbuck also had told him of the restriction by the advanced beings or angels on the Ship of Lights.

"I have directed that Colonial Industries work with the US federal, state, or local governments to provide aid for those we can immediately help," Ron Davis announced. "Beyond that our hands are tied."

Conversation paused for a minute as Stevens sat up straighter in his chair. "Apollo," he began. "We talked about this before you came in. We feel that we can no longer ensure your people's security on Earth."

"I see," Apollo replied slowly while thinking of the consequences. _Do we evacuate? Where do we go? What will the EDN do?_

"There is some good news, however. We want to show you something," Stevens said while the other started smiling.

Stevens slid over two pictures of what looked like the Earth from high orbit. Stapled behind each were a few sheets of paper. Mark brought the same two pictures up on the computer screen.

"What are these," Apollo asked. He first thought they were of the Earth then his trained eye showed him that the two pictures were not of the Earth at all.

"Those are our heritage, courtesy of the 13th Tribe," Stevens announced. "They are the two, now habitable planets of the Alpha Centauri system, the nearest system to Earth's. The 13th Tribe terraformed the two planets either right before or right after coming to the Earth to settle. The Saratoga task force has been surveying the system. The initial survey results are attached to the pictures."

Apollo eyed the four others critically. "It is obvious that you are leading me to a conclusion," he said.

"You are right," Mark Davis joined in. "The situation on Earth is pretty grim. All the Western countries are essentially paralyzed by the attack. Many, including the US, have lost their governments. Europe is in turmoil. Our orbital observations show massive rioting in England, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, and in Israel. We've detected military mobilizations in all countries attacked. We've also detected mobilization in several Middle Eastern countries including Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. There is the possibility of massive retaliation against the Muslim states by any of the Western nuclear powers; the US, UK, or France. There is also the possibility of further nuclear strikes against the West or Israel. Israel is sure to retaliate against their neighboring countries should any of them mount an invasion or provide overt support to their Palestinian population. We don't know what will happen because most of the attacks occurred in Western capital cities and those country's governments have been decapitated."

"It is our opinion that the Western societies will not be able to resist the demands of their Muslim, ahem, guests," Ron Davis announced. "Not only that, but the world's economy will be severely impacted. The current recession will quickly turn into a depression. The situation in the non-industrial nations will quickly deteriorate. Starvation and famine will run rampant. The semi-industrialized nations of South America and Asia will suffer the least, but they will barely hold together as they have lost their American and European markets for their cheap labor goods.

"Anyway, we have discussed our response to this kind of attack amongst ourselves many times. Because the Angels of the Ship of Lights required long ago that we not interfere with events on Earth we are left with one viable course of action, evacuation."

"It has come to that hasn't it," Apollo asked himself not liking the idea of cramming all of his people back onto the ragtag fleet. Though settling them on one of the two worlds of the Centauri system had its own appeal.

"As soon as we can reasonably do so," Stevens added, "we will be recalling all our agents, core Colonial Industries employees, certain others, and their families. We'll also be shipping all of our corporate assets up to the moon base. We will be leaving nothing behind except empty buildings and untended farm fields."

"Won't that worsen the situation in the US," Apollo asked. He quickly realized that it would take quite some time to fully evacuate both the Colonial settlers and the EDN personnel, perhaps even several years. "Still, I need to meet with the rest of the Council of the Twelve to discuss this and come up with a response," Apollo said. "We are no longer under martial law and I can't ram a decision like this through on my own authority. I'll also need to contact the Galactica."

"Captain," Stevens began. "Please take President Apollo to the Ops Center. He can make arrangements for traveling earthside and for contacting the Galactica."

Starbuck rose from his chair. "Come with me, Apollo," he said while walking out of the conference room.

Mark Davis stepped around the table so he could face his brother and Admiral Stevens. "Long ago, when Starbuck first came to us we had a decision to make as to who we would recruit to the EDN. Events have borne out that we have made the right decision. Now, we have another decision to make. In my opinion the West is dying. It has been dying since around when I was born."

"Yes, Mark," Ron replied. "We both know your views on this. I still feel it is a shame, especially as a Christian, that we have been forced to be so restrictive."

"Like Mark said," Stevens began. "Events have borne out that using the 'Davis Criteria' was correct."

"I don't think the US will survive this attack," Mark said. "I would like to obtain as many American historical artifacts as we reasonably can as we evacuate. DC is gone, but we may be able to recover the Declaration and Constitution. They didn't hit Philly; we can certainly recover the Liberty Bell. I would also like to expand our recruiting drive, using the Criteria, as much as possible. We will need the people if we are to settle on the Centauri worlds."

"We already have a virtual copy of the Library of Congress," Ron said.

"Obtaining the larger historical artifacts means exposing the organization," Stevens interjected. "That violates our non-interference statute."

"There is one other thing we can do," Mark said after a moment's thought. "Since all Western nations and cultures are under attack. We could start recruiting from them before some of them, like Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and others are overrun by their..Uh…guests. We can't get many people in a short amount of time, but hopefully we'll get enough to preserve their languages, cultures, and to copy much of their historical documents."

Ron Davis and Stevens thought for a moment.

"I can see the value in preserving the other Western Cultures," Stevens began. "We are essentially preserving the American culture. You are right, though, that we would not be able to recruit more than several hundred from each of the other Western nations in a short time. I also think that to do so we would have to relax the Criteria regarding religion. Many in the other Western nations under attack are Catholic or Orthodox, but being on another world with no contact with Earth eliminates the problem of religious authority that was a concern for us in the beginning. The rest of the Criteria are still as valid as originally intended."

Ron and Mark both nodded their heads.

"I'll contact our people on Earth," Ron said. "We need to get to work as soon as possible. We have two new worlds to settle."

Out in the hallway Starbuck was leading Apollo to the moon base's operations center, the same one that he and Dan Foster explored two decades ago.

"I'm glad to see you again, bud," Starbuck said. "I just wish the circumstances were different."

"It does seem pretty grim," Apollo replied. "This is almost like a repeat of the Cylon attack on the Colonies. Evacuating will be hard on the people, especially the older ones. They will not like to leave their homes a second time. The younger ones will not like to leave either. They had just gotten used to living on a planet."

"Do you think you can get everyone out?"

"I don't know. Most of the older people have stayed in the Tri-Cities, but many of the younger ones have moved out to try to make their way in the US. The Leos, Librans, and especially the Aquarians, didn't feel comfortable in the Tri-Cities. Many of the younger ones have left for Chicago or St. Louis."

"Those are all outer colony people. There weren't many of them in the Fleet in the first place."

"True, but I hate losing any of our people if we have to evacuate." The two stopped just outside the operations center's entrance.

"Here we are," Starbuck announced. "Let's go make your calls."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 –2 July 2010

The VC-32, a converted Boeing 757, flew in the company of two F-15 Eagles and a KC-135 Tanker above the quiet waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. Onboard, former senator and soon to be former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton sat in her amidships salon pondering her fate.

Earlier in the day she was meeting with Polish officials in her official capacity as America's chief diplomat when her military attaché had rushed to her side and whispered into her ear the dreadful news of the day. As her face turned pale under her makeup, a Polish officer informed his president of what happened at nearly the same moment.

She quickly said her goodbyes and returned to her plane, a look of worry which she tried to suppress began to cross her face. There she learned more details as the flight crew prepared for take-off; that the attack was an act of terrorism and the statement from Al-Qaida. Then she was informed that CINC NORAD/NorthCom in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, with the support of CINC StratCom, at Offutt AFB, Nebraska, had taken over control of the US military and placed US forces at DEFCON 1. Finally, the President, Vice President, President Pro Temp of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House had likely perished in the explosion in DC. This left her as the highest ranking minister in the US government. With the scope of the disaster CINC NORAD had strongly recommended that she return to the US immediately.

Once airborne her worry increased. She thought of her daughter; whether she was ok or not. Chelsea was working for a New York firm and lived in the city, but was in the middle of preparations for her wedding. She needed to travel out of the city, mostly to Rhinebeck, New York, on occasions. She then thought about soon becoming the president of the United States. The office she sought not too long ago. A flicker of doubt entered her mind. Was she up to the challenge that the Oval Office held during such a crisis as this? Then her thoughts came to the fate of her husband who also lived in New York. The man had betrayed her so many times that her marriage had become a sham. Yet, she didn't want him to be killed from a fanatic's bomb. Finally, she offered a prayer to God. She wasn't a deeply religious woman, yet the magnitude of the disaster befalling her country, and potentially her family, shook her to her core. She prayed for God to forgive her sins and those of her family while asking for His help to recover from the attack.

The door to her suite opened and an Air Force officer stuck his head in.

"We'll be landing in about an hour, Madam Secretary," he announced. Mrs. Clinton could hear a man talking loudly just beyond the door.

"That reactionary, Tom Clancy, must be having a conniption," he said. "He wrote that one book where a terrorist crashed an airliner into the Capital during the State of the Union speech. Well, we'll be the ones to rebuild the government, not those crazy Tea-Baggers."

Hillary smiled inwardly at the comment while addressing the officer. "Thank you." Her calm demeanor hid her worry.

The flight from Warsaw was a long one. Most of the airspace in Europe had been closed except for military flights and hers. Her aircraft had to divert around the radioactive plumes sent up from the bombs in London, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Hamburg. While the VC-32 had sufficient range to make the flight, with the diversions, without refueling, an Air Force refueling tanker had rendezvoused with them over the North Atlantic to refuel their accompanying two plane fighter escort. Normally, they would have landed in Ireland to refuel. Their destination was Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, the closest non-damaged Air Force base to the Federal District. Dover AFB was closer, but it was downwind of the Federal District and not suitable. Andrews AFB itself had suffered mild to moderate damage from the blast, but was also in the plume of radioactive dust.

When the aircraft landed at Langley AFB, several dignitaries were waiting for Secretary Clinton. The first was the LAFB base commander, the second was the director of NASA's Langley Research Center which was co-located at LAFB, the third was the governor of Virginia, and the final one was the senior federal district court judge from the Norfolk Division of the Eastern District of Virginia. The base photographer stood near the group with her camera ready. They were waiting at the bottom of the flight stairs that were rolled up to the main cabin door of the VC-32.

After an Air Force officer stuck his head out of the door to check the stair's positioning, Secretary Clinton emerged from the converted Boeing aircraft and descended the stairs. At the bottom, the federal judge held out a Bible. Mrs. Clinton placed her left hand on the book and raised her right. She then spoke the oath of office, having memorized it while on her flight from Poland.

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God."

"Congratulations, Madam President," the governor of Virginia said.

"Let's get to work," the new president ordered.

Over the Rocky Mountains an EDN F-1 Lightning flew just under the speed of sound at a relative altitude of a thousand feet. In the weapons officer's seat behind the pilot, the newly appointed commander of the Battlestar Galactica fumed over the length of time it was taking to return to Naper, Nebraska.

"What's our ETA," Apollo asked.

"We'll be down to about an hour," Starbuck replied from the front seat of the fighter.

Just after their meeting with the Davis' and Admiral Stevens. Starbuck had taken Apollo to schedule a 727 shuttle flight back to the Earth. During that time NORAD had shut down all air travel in the US. Starbuck immediately offered to personally fly Apollo down in his F-1. The offer was quickly accepted as Apollo had long desired to fly the EDN fighter. Starbuck then took Apollo to be fitted to an EDN pressure suit. An hour later they were winging their way through space back to the Earth.

The first part of the flight was uneventful as they cruised between the Moon and Earth. Starbuck had to concentrate more as they descended over the Pacific Ocean outside of radar coverage then change course towards the US. They made land fall over the Oregon coast and flew nearly due east over Idaho, Wyoming, and into Nebraska. They finally landed in Naper that evening after dark and taxied directly into a Colonial Charters hanger. A Colonial Industries company car took both men to where the Council of the Twelve was waiting.

While still wearing his borrowed flight suit Apollo entered the meeting room and walked to the head of the table. The similarly dressed Starbuck followed but he stood just inside the door until a Colonial Security guard pointed him to a vacant guest chair.

The local members of the Council had met as soon as news of the terrorist attack had reached the Tri-cities. In Apollo's absence, Sire Uri had led the meeting. They had quickly become frustrated at the lack of information available. During the following hours the Council maintained a vigil by watching the responses to the manmade disasters in the stricken cities on the various television news stations and adding details to the radiation protection procedures emplaced by their hosts.

Lieutenant Hoeing arrived at the meeting. He informed the Council that there was no further news from the EDN. He also told them that Apollo and Starbuck were on their way back to Naper after meeting with Stevens and the Davis brothers.

During Apollo's flight from the Moon, the TV news reported that Hillary Clinton was sworn in as the new President of the United States and that one of her first actions was to close down all US airspace. She also called out the various National Guard units stationed closest to the stricken cities to supplement the search and rescue and law enforcement agencies responding.

A short time later the whine of an aircraft was heard landing at Naper International Airport. Twenty minutes later a Council Security guard opened the door to the meeting room.

"President Apollo and Captain Starbuck are here," the guard said while stepping aside letting the two men enter the room.

"President Apollo," Sire Uri began. "You now have the floor. We would appreciate any update you have regarding our current situation."

"Thank you, Sire Uri," Apollo began. "As my attire shows, I got here as fast as circumstances allowed. Thankfully, Captain Starbuck helped to expedite our arrival. Had I waited for a Seven-Twenty-Seven Shuttle, I wouldn't be here until tomorrow or maybe the day after." The other members of the Council nodded that they understood and held no anger for Apollo not being their sooner. The leaned forward around the central table eagerly to hear what Apollo had to say.

"The news from Admiral Stevens and the EDN headquarters is, as you already know, Al-Qaida terrorists had set off twenty three nuclear explosives in various Western cities around the globe. Al-Qaida immediately announced responsibility for the atrocity and called for a Jihad against the West." Apollo laid some papers down on the conference table. "Here is a list of the cities attacked, the probable ground-zeros of the explosions, and the approximate yield of the weapons."

"I was informed that local EDN organizations helped to enact radiation protection procedures to protect those of our people residing locally in the Tri-Cities," Apollo went on. "Admiral Stevens briefed me on those procedures and they are acceptable in the short term. He also informed me that given the nature of the attack and the fact that the terrorists were able to acquire the fissionable materials, manufacture the bombs, and smuggle them into their targets in secret that it was highly probable that further attacks were possible. He announced that he and EDN could no longer ensure our safety on Earth."

Immediately the council began murmuring. Despair began to be heard in their voices.

"This is just like the Holocaust," Sire Gellarsaid clearly referring to the destruction of the Colonies.

"How could Al-Qaida get bomb grade fissionable material," Siress Tiniaasked.

"Order, order," Sire Uri said softly.

"I have unexpected good news and a proposal from Admiral Stevens," Apollo announced over the murmuring. The other councilors quieted down while Apollo passed out the data papers and photos of the two terraformed worlds in the Alpha Centauri system.

"The EDN has been exploring the closest star system to Earth's," Apollo began. "It appears that the 13th Tribe was thinking of the future when they settled on Earth. Thousands of yahrens ago they transformed two lifeless worlds into habitable ones. Admiral Stevens told me that the EDN will be evacuating all of their people on Earth except for those recruiting for them and their support. Everything else is going to one of these worlds. With these recent events I recommend that we do the same."

"This means uprooting our people a second time," Sire Montrose said as the murmuring started up again.

"We are no longer in a secure position here on Earth," Siress Blassie replied.

"Order, order," Sire Uri again said calmly.

"We should vote our recommendation, but this is not a decision that the Council can impose on the Colonial people," Apollo said. "I'm calling for a plebiscite of the Colonial people to decide this issue.

For a third time the council erupted with murmuring.

"I second the motion," Sire Antipas said above the fray.

"Order," Apollo called this time while waving for the Council to calm itself. He changed topics.

"Also, it is our responsibility to ensure all of our people are safe. I'm ordering Colonial Security to find those of our people that live outside the Tri-city area and inform them of the plebiscite. It may be that some of them were lost in the attack. We need to make sure, for their family's sake at least."

20 July 2010

"Personal Log," Apollo began typing at home on his personal computer a couple weeks later. "It's done. In the wake of the terrorist nuclear attack on the West three sectons ago, the Council voted for an evacuation to Alpha Centauri. Today, the Council was in session as a plebiscite of the Colonial people was held. A large majority of the voters, seventy three percent voted in agreement to the Council's recommendation. Yet, since the Council proposed the vote to the people, a small minority of the Colonial people, mostly those living outside the Tri-cities, requested that the evacuation not be mandatory. 'Let those who want to, go,' they said.

"Prior to the vote, a quick, unofficial census was taken by Colonial Security to help account for our people and see who was missing. The census also reported on Colonials living outside the Tri-cities. It appears that we have a score or so from all tribes that are unaccounted for. They were out on tour to the cities that were attacked. Most of them were lost in Los Angeles. CS teams accompanied by EDN guides were dispatched to each city where Colonials have been lost. Hopefully, they will find the missing alive. If not, then they are to try and locate their remains, if they still exist and bring them back to the Tri-cities.

"CS has accounted for all the others living out of the Tri-cities; they are mostly Leos, Librans, and Aquarians, plus a smattering of all the other tribes. The Leo and Librans have relocated mainly to the Chicago area; the Librans mostly to Detroit, but a few are elsewhere. All Colonials are required to maintain location records with CS. These three tribes were also the most vocal about having the choice of remaining behind. They are all from the Outer Planets and were not a large part of the Fleet's people to begin with. I think I understand their motivation. The Tri-cities area is not known for its racial diversity as most Americans would say. So, those three tribes have mostly left, leaving some of their elderly behind, to make connections with their brethren on Earth.

"For now, the Council has contacted the EDN to begin coordination of the evacuation. The crews for the various ships of the Fleet were also contacted. They are scheduled to depart from Naper in a few days on EDN transports to reactivate their ships. Admiral Stevens related that they were reactivating their 13th Tribe ships to aid in the evacuation. Some on the Council were concerned that those ships haven't flown in thousands of yahrens, but Stevens related that they have been fully refurbished before being relocated to Ceres during the last twenty five yahrens.

Apollo paused again. "Yahrens ago, during the flight from the Colonies, the Council considered what would need to take place should the Fleet encounter an uninhabited, habitable planet and preliminary plans were drawn up for how to settle such a world. We've shared this plan with the EDN who has a similar plan. Over the next few days, the Council's and the EDN's staffs will reconcile them and come up with a revised evacuation document. Stevens did say that he wanted the Galactica and some EDN escorts ships to be the guardians for the evacuation fleet as it makes it trips between Earth's solar system and Alpha Centauri. In the mean time, the Council and the END leadership have decided who would settle each planet. It was agreed that the EDN would take the planet with the smaller land percentage, Alpha Centauri B-2 and the Colonials will settle A-3. We've named A-3 New Kobol.

"Personally, I wish all of the Colonial people would stay together, but I understand how some want to remain on Earth. Here they have established new homes and created families and reconnected with their brother cultures here on Earth. We will remain in contact with them. If at some future time they wish to relocate to New Kobol then they will be welcome. In the mean time I will pray for their safety on this troubled Earth."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – 20 July 2010

Far across the universe, on a slightly arid, but habitable to a human, world a city rose from the landscape next to a river that emptied into a small sea. One building in this city was of a nearly cylindrical shape. The tallest building in the city, its polished black shell reflected the sunlight onto all the buildings around it. Inside that building resided the Imperious Leader of the Cylon Empire. It sat on a throne on top of a pedestal. The pedestal was a scale version of the building it was in. There the Imperious Leader silently monitoring the workings of the Empire.

The Imperious Leader didn't know it, but it wasn't alone in his throne room. The ethereal being that had created the mechanical Cylon 'race,' who caused them to overthrow their lizard like creators, stood silently before the throne looking up at the leader of his creation.

_They have taken the bait and walked into the trap_, Count Iblis, as he was known among the Colonials thought to himself while regarding the EDN and Colonial remnant. _As they flee the Earth to establish themselves on the Centauri worlds their power will be divided_. _Soon, my Cylon children will defeat the Colonial remnant and their EDN allies. The Earth will belong exclusively to me again as was promised long ago. So, too will the survivors of the remnant bow down to me as they once did on Kobol_

Iblis stretched his awareness across the cosmos. _Yes, my Cylon children are well on their way to Earth._ The Cylons had established a string of supply outposts from Gamoray, the Cylon outer capital, almost all the way to Earth's solar system in the wake of the initial pursuit of the Colonial remnant. Cylon supply ships constantly ran circuits of the outposts delivering fuel, spare parts, and other supplies. Now, those bases were supporting a new fleet of baseships that were making their way down the chain of outposts towards Earth and Alpha Centauri.

Langley AFB - Langley Virginia

For the three weeks since the terror attack President Hillary Clinton worked from her temporary headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Not knowing how the bombs were smuggled into the US, and with the advice of her military leaders, she shut down all air travel in the US. She also closed all ports and border crossings. She knew that she couldn't keep the borders closed indefinitely, but she needed to give the FBI and the US's other police agencies time to investigate the attacks and begin to track down those responsible.

Closing the borders with Canada and Mexico had additional complications. Those borders were so long and porous that smuggling was a thriving business except in the highly controlled avenues. Clinton, though reluctant because many Democratic voters were Hispanic, agreed with her advisers and called up the National Guard of the Border States to physically close the borders. Regular Army soldiers and Guardsmen from the interior states were assigned to supplement the Border State forces as needed. The National Guard was also activated to help in the disaster response to the stricken cities.

She felt it ironic that she, a Democratic President, was enacting a Republican, really a Tea Party, policy by closing the borders.

The affect of the Guard on the border was immediately felt by the drug and people smugglers on the Mexican border. President Clinton had already fielded several calls from the Mexican President expressing both his sympathy, he had offered to help in the recovery effort which was graciously refused, and his frustration that he could not control the smugglers and drug Mafioso in the border towns. Battles were occurring between the criminals and his, albeit corrupt, Federal Police and Mexican Army. Also, the constant movement of migrants across Mexico had stopped and the border towns were beginning to buckle under the strain of supporting them until the smugglers could get them into the US-. He wanted the border open again as a relief valve for those pent up forces. Clinton expressed her own sympathy, but cited the disaster as more than sufficient reason to keep the borders closed for the time being.

The primary topic on her military advisers' minds was whether to launch a retaliatory strike of some kind or not. The new president quickly quashed any idea of retaliation until specific targets could be identified. She knew public sentiment was probably growing for a strike against any number of Middle Eastern countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan. She would not act until the investigation showed that one of these countries, or any other, was complicit in the attack. For now, the CIA and the other US intelligence agencies, in cooperation with their international partner where possible, were to track down where the nuclear explosives were manufactured, including how they obtained the fissionable materials for the devices. They were also to cooperate with the FBI and other domestic law enforcement organizations to determine how the devices were smuggled into the US.

Another topic on the new president's mind was the rebuilding of the Federal Government. She had quickly learned that almost all of Congress and all of the Supreme Court were killed during the attack. She had quickly asked the state governors to appoint new senators. They had mostly arrived during the previous three weeks. A new House of Representatives would wait until after the November elections had taken place as a special election before then was not practical.

In the upcoming elections in November it was already looking like it would be a big win for the Republicans. Now, after the nuclear terrorism, almost all the incumbents were dead in the DC explosion. This left only the challengers alive. Now, she expected the elections to be a huge win for the Republicans and their Tea Party wing in particular. This is where President Clinton was troubled. As a lifelong Democrat, she would be in the same position her husband was in after the Republicans had taken control of Congress in 1994.

Also affecting the election was the state of the economy after the attack. With the destruction of several major cities, all air travel shut down, and the borders closed, at least temporarily, the nation's economy had taken a dive. President Clinton could see no way out of the coming depression. The US wasn't alone either. Stock markets worldwide had taken a major hit in the days after the attack. As President Obama and Congress had just about used up the nation's ability to provide stimulus to the economy in the previous months, she felt that her hands were tied. She could have the Federal Government try to spend the country out of the impending depression, increasing the national debt further. Yet, the new congress was sure to slash spending which would also have negative consequences on the economy. All she knew was that the country, indeed the world, was in for a very bumpy ride for the next decade.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 – 27 July 2010

A navy blue sedan pulled up in front of Apollo's residence in Naper, Nebraska. Lieutenant Hoeing, casually dressed, stepped out the car. He noted the tractor-trailer moving van backed up in the driveway as he walked up to the front door. Just then the door opened and two men walked out carrying a piece of furniture.

"Excuse us," the first said as he maneuvered around Hoeing.

"Excuse me," he replied while stepping out of their way. Once the worker had cleared the door he knocked on the door frame loudly.

Apollo, while packing dishes in the kitchen, noted the knocking on the door. He looked over to see who was there. He had remained on Earth the past three weeks to coordinate the evacuation effort. Now, he and his family were being transferred to the Galactica, Sheba and Boxey were already there, but his children with Sheba, his son, Zac, and daughter, Ruth, had remained on Earth to finish their studies. Now, they were packing up all their household goods and personal items. They were to stay two days in the Temporary Officers Quarters then depart for the Moon on a 727 shuttle.

"Oh, hi Lieutenant Hoeing," Apollo called out. "Please come in."

"Thank you, Mr. President," Hoeing replied while stepping in and walking to the kitchen.

"We're a bit busy here," Apollo said. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm here to make sure your move goes smoothly," Hoeing replied.

"We'll the kids and I are packing the boxes, and the two men from Colonial Industries are getting the big stuff."

"Sounds good," Hoeing replied. "I just received a communiqué from Admiral Stevens. He is requesting that I be assigned as a liaison officer onboard the Galactica since you and the rest of the Council of the Twelve will be working from there during the evacuation."

"I don't see a problem with that," Apollo replied. The two men heard a scuffling and heavy breathing as Ruth walked carefully into the living room with a large box.

"Oh my," Hoeing remarked as he quickly stepped over to relieve the young woman of her heavy load. As he was taking the box from her their hands touched briefly. Hoeing made eye contact with Ruth before setting the box down next to several others in the middle of the living room floor.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Ruth said. "I almost lost hold of it."

"That's OK, and please call me Matthew," Hoeing replied while wiping his hands on his trousers. He quickly glanced over to Apollo and back again to Ruth.

"I've been meaning to ask you," Hoeing started then paused. He quickly looked over at Apollo who was quietly ignoring the two.

Ruth gave the young man before her a questioning look. Then a twinkle entered her eye as she realized what he was trying to do.

"Well," she asked with a smile starting to form on her lips. He looked her in the eyes again before

"Well, I'm being assigned to the Galactica as a liaison officer. I'll be flying up in a couple of days." He paused again. His eyes dropped momentarily then returned.

"Anyway, since we're both leaving the Earth permanently I was wondering if I could take you out before we leave." He almost signed with relief after getting the question said without verbally stumbling.

_How can he be so shy_, Ruth asked herself. She didn't get much chance to meet men because of her studies, her status as a Warrior, and that she was President/Commander Apollo's daughter which frightened most suitors away. She really did think _Matthew_ Hoeing was cute. He wasn't a fashion model, but his blond hair, blue eyes, squared shoulders and athletic build made him stand out from other men. She had seen him in uniform in the past. She had noted his EDN space warfare officer "space wings" meaning he was qualified to command a warship. She had also seen his pilot's wings, though she didn't know which EDN small craft he was qualified to fly. Finally, being chosen to be Admiral Stevens' personal aide, then liaison to the Colonial President and the Council of the Twelve meant that he must have been selected for these posts for some reason. He wasn't shy to her father and the Council when he met with them. She was determined to find out why. First, she was going to tease him a little.

"Well, Father, Zac and I were going to have a dinner out the night before we leave," she said while watching disappointment start to spread across his face. She decided to stop teasing him.

"But, tomorrow night I am free," she added. Relief rapidly spread Hoeing mouth into a wide smile.

"Good, I'll pick you up at the Inn for dinner around six. Now, do you need help with these other boxes?"

"Sure," she replied. The two then wrestled the boxes to the living room.

The next evening Hoeing picked up Ruth and drove with her for most of an hour to the nearby town of Pickstown, South Dakota. Like the Tri-Cities; Naper, St. Charles, and Herrick; Pickstown had experienced an economic boom over the last twenty years. Since it was located on the Missouri River, it expanded as a travel and leisure center for the area, boasting many restaurants and resorts. A dam built by the Army Corps of Engineers backed the Missouri river up into a reservoir. Hoeing took Ruth to a steakhouse overlooking the man-made lake. He had arranged for a table next to a window that would catch the water and the terrain beyond with the golden light of the late afternoon July sun.

Ruth was impressed that he had thought of such a pleasant setting for their date. Conscious of their surroundings, the two chatted politely as they waited for their meals. Ruth finally asked the question that was on her mind.

"Matt," she began. "What took you so long to ask me out?"

He thought for a moment. "I just wanted to wait for the right moment," he finally said.

Ruth gave him a questioning look.

"It took me a while to find out if you were seeing anyone or not," he went on. "Then I had to make sure that you knew me well enough to accept my invitation to go out. When I touched your hand yesterday and you didn't object, I knew that it was time to ask you out. Also, the occasion helped too. We really are leaving Naper for good. I will miss home, but I am looking forward to working closely with you in the future." He smiled knowing that he would have more opportunity to spend time with Ruth as their duties permitted on the Galactica.

The waiter brought the couple their food then, so conversation stopped as they ate their salads first, then steaks, rice and veggies.

They asked each other about their families. Ruth tried to explain how it was to be raised on board the Galactica, particularly by two ace fighter pilots. She was the second child in the family after Boxey, Apollo's adopted son. Zac was her younger brother. Her father, Apollo, was on limited flight duty then as he was assigned as the third in command of the Galactica under Adama and Tigh. Her mother, Sheba, had remained on flight duty leaving her children under the care of Athena most of the time. After she had grown up, she applied for Warrior training and was accepted into the Training Squadron about a year before arriving at the Solar System. Her younger brother Zac followed in her footsteps a year behind her.

Matt then told her about his family. His parents were recruited into the EDN soon after they had graduated from their universities in the early 80's. His parents had then joined the team of naval architects working on the design of the EDN new fleet of ships. Initially, they had lived in Naper in the Colonial Industries compound while also designing some of CI's consumer goods, but later as construction of the ships began, they moved up to the moon base. With the encouragement and guidance of the EDN leadership, they and many other couples were formed and large families began. Matt was the oldest of six siblings. He had grown up on the moon base with occasional trips to Earth to visit family and take well needed vacations. Later, after completing his primary education on the moon base, he had attended a university on Earth. Secretly, he had participated in the EDN's ROTC program being run out of the CI compound in Naper. Following that he had trained as a fighter pilot. He completed that course, earning his fighter pilot's wings and was about to be assigned to the moon base's wing, but a call went out for executive assistants to Admiral Stevens. He quickly applied for the job as did several others. All were interviewed and he was selected. He later learned that Stevens had been most impressed by Hoeing's performance during fleet combat simulations. Hoeing's war game skills were unmatched in his graduating class. While serving as Steven's aide he started on the job training on the various ships Stevens commanded finally earning his space warfare officers "space wings." Normally dual rated officers were rare as carrier command, like in the US Navy went to a senior flying officer, not a line officer. That flying officer then took special class on ship handling before assuming his command. Hoeing finally commented on how Ruth already knew how he was assigned to be the liaison to the Colonial Council and President.

After their meal Matt took Ruth for a walk along the shore of the reservoir. The sun shine lingered after the long summer day. They walked mostly in silence. Unconsciously, as the two walked, they stayed close enough together that their hands almost touched.

Later that evening, Hoeing escorted Ruth to the room she was staying in at the Temporary Officers Quarters. Smiles were on both of their faces as they stopped before her door. The adjacent room was occupied by her father and brother. They didn't know, but Matt suspected, Apollo had waited up for her to return to the inn.

"Thank you for taking me out," Ruth began. "I haven't had a night out in quite a while. It was fun."

"You're welcome," Hoeing replied. "I had a good time too. An awkward silence began between the two. Matt lifted his hand for a friendly shake, but when Ruth offered hers he both lifted her hand and bent down and kissed her knuckles. "Enjoy your day tomorrow," he said. "I'll see you on the flight to the moon base the day after."

"OK," Ruth replied sheepishly, not sure how to respond to Matt's unorthodox to a Colonial kiss. He waited patiently as she retrieved her key and went inside her room.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 – 9 November 2010

In a parallel solar orbit just outside the gravitational influence of the planet Neptune a fleet of ships slowly gathered. By ones and twos, ships of the Colonial Ragtag Fleet and the former colony ships of the 13th Tribe rendezvoused with the Battlestar Galactica and her EDN escort squadron. Not all the ships of either fleet were to be assembled for the first colonizing journey to the Alpha Centauri worlds. Second and third waves of ships were being prepared.

Commander Apollo stood next to a display pedestal in the Galactica's new CIC. The flat-screen monitor top of the pedestal showed the arrival of the final ship in the first colonizing expedition.

"That's the last one," Colonel Omega announced from across the pedestal from Apollo. The Gemini Freighter eased itself into formation with the rest of the first expedition. Apollo reviewed the formation shown on the pedestal display. He could see the Galactica as the lead ship and the EDN escorts set up as an exterior screen. The escorts included a heavy cruiser four destroyers and two frigates.

Most of the ships of the first expedition fleet were Colonial. When the Rag Tag Fleet had arrived at the moon base the passengers and their personal belongings were unloaded, but any manufacturing equipment or imperishable supplies were not. Now, in preparation for the evacuation to Alpha Centauri, the ships only needed to be fueled and provisioned along with the ship's crews and work crews for the Fleet's industries re-embarked. Most of the general passengers would be transported later.

The EDN had a more difficult situation for their colonization effort. Years ago they had refurbished and modernized the old 13th Tribe colonization fleet and moved them to the Ceres base for storage. They had planned to use them for a slow, gentle colonization effort in the indefinite future. Now, they were being forced to rush the provisioning of the ships with the needed materials and equipment to set up their colony on Alpha Centauri. It was taking them time to uproot their Earth based industries in the Tri-cities and elsewhere and ship them to the moon base. Still, enough equipment and supplies had been gathered to begin construction of farms and housing for a small EDN settlement.

"Signal all ships to stand by for departure," Apollo ordered while looking at the time readout on the pedestal. It read 12:05 pm Greenwich standard time. "We'll depart at 1:00 sharp," he went on. "That should give the Gemini Freighter and her crew enough time to prepare for the jump to Centauri."

The hour quickly passed as the ships of the expedition performed their final systems checks.

"All ships report they are ready to depart," Colonel Omega announced a couple minutes before the departure time. He was now standing with the communications technicians across the CIC from Apollo.

"Signal, 'all ships stand by for departure'," Apollo ordered.

Apollo watched the time count down on the display pedestal before him.

"Signal, 'all ships engage thrusters'. Ahead one-third," Apollo ordered as the time reached a few seconds before 1:00.

"The fleet is responding," Omega reported. Apollo looked down at the display and saw that the fleet was indeed maintaining formation and was on course.

A few hours later the fleet had left the gravitational influences of the sun and Neptune. They were free to proceed to the Centauri system. While only the Galactica and a few other ships of the Rag Tag Fleet such as the Rising Star liner had in-system light-speed drives, all ships of the Fleet had FTL which allowed them to jump between star systems. These drives, however, only operated in gravitational null space. At Apollo's order the fleet jumped past light-speed and appeared in the Centauri system a moment later.

"Colonel," Apollo began after checking the time. "You have the ship. I'll be in my quarters."

"Very well, Commander," Omega replied while looking forward to commanding the ship during the approach to A-3. "Have a good night."

Apollo walked out of the CIC and headed towards his quarters with Sheba. When he got there he saw that his wife was asleep after a busy day of patrolling and training. Before joining her he stepped over to his computer and quietly composed a log entry using only the keyboard so as to not wake his wife.

"Commander's Log: Today was a sad day for me. I have now officially left my second home behind. Five years ago I had great hope of having a permanent home on Earth when the EDN settled the Colonial People in Nebraska and South Dakota. I had that home and a peaceful life for a little while. Now, that home is gone. Gone in the wake of the greatest tragedy man has inflicted on himself either here or in the Colonies.

"What gives me hope is what is ahead of us. A pristine world almost divinely prepared for us. I see hardship ahead of us as we settle onto New Kobol, but I also see a new Colonial nation arising from the ashes of the old. A nation free of the restrictions placed on us while we were residing on Earth. Free to grow and hopefully surpass the former Twelve Colonies.

"I only hope the Cylons will leave us alone long enough for the Colonial people to reach their potential again. I pray that the Lords of Kobol, the Messiah, and God the Father will allow that to happen."

10 November 2010

The next morning Apollo woke up to find his wife slowly trying to get out of bed without disturbing him.

"Good morning, darling," Apollo said to her back.

Sheba quickly turned around.

"I'm sorry," she quickly said with a small pout. Then she grinned before leaning down for a kiss.

Apollo looked over at the clock.

"It's about time I got up too," he said while throwing his bed covers off. A short while later, after using the fresher and dressing, Apollo arrived at the CIC with Sheba walking at his side.

"Good morning, Commander, Captain," Omega said as he saw the two enter. "We arrived over A-3, uh New Kobol, about two hours ago. I sent out the first patrol and had the mineral ships begin their resource survey. In the mean time I've had the crew scanning the surface to build upon the maps provided by the EDN. Also, half of our escorts and the EDN ships of the expedition have departed for B-2."

"Very well," Apollo replied while stepping over to the main display. On it he saw a flat map projection of the planet below while above on the main wall display an external camera viewed the planet in all its pristine glory. There were two amorphous continents that swept north-east across the equator to south west on opposite sides of the planet. There was third slightly smaller continent between the two in addition to a number of islands. Like on Earth, the poles were covered in ice and snow. The South Pole was in an ocean while the North Pole was on the second continent.

Out of the corner of his eye Apollo saw the expression on Sheba's face. He wore the same expression on his own. Sheba caught his sidewise glance and turned toward her husband with a sheepish grin.

"It's more beautiful than I imagined," she said.

"Beautiful it is, but it will also be a hardship for our people," Apollo replied. "Let's get to work."

17 November 2010

A week later Apollo called a meeting to discuss the initial survey results. As he entered the Galactica's conference room he noted that the room was packed with all the attendees. The Council of the Twelve was all there as was a news team from the reconstituted Inter-Fleet Broadcasting news service. Selected officers from the Galactica's crew and the other ships of the expedition filled the remaining seats in the room. At the back of the room he noted how his daughter, Ruth, was sitting with his EDN liaison, Lieutenant Hoeing. Automatically, the chatter in the room ended as Apollo walked to the podium in front of the audience. He then began his introduction.

"Thank you for coming here to review the initial survey results with the Council," he said. "We have a lot to go over so I would like the presentations started without any delay. First, the climate survey is to be presented by Captain Reuben of the agricultural ship. Captain Reuben." Apollo stepped away from the podium and took a seat at the head of the conference room table.

The commanding officer of the Agro-ship rose from his seat and stepped up to the temporary podium before and slightly to one side of the audience. Over the previous few years the Colonials had discovered the utility of the 'personal computer' and the many programs available. With the reconstruction of the battlestar on Ceres, the former council meeting room was converted to a general conference room. It retained a central, yet less ornate table. Chairs were added down both sides of the room and in three rows across the back. A floor to ceiling rear projection view screen was added at one end of the room. Adjacent to the view screen a permanent podium was set up. A computer operating it was hidden within the podium. Captain Reuben called up his presentation on the computer and showed the first slide on the screen, a Mercator projection of the preliminary climate map of New Kobol.

"I'm Captain Reuben of the Agro-ship. During the previous week we've been making orbital and high altitude aerial photo surveys of likely areas on New Kobol to set up farms and ranches. We looked at the expected temperature ranges each area would receive seasonally as well as the availability of fresh water from streams and lakes. In addition, we looked at the tendency of each area to experience severe weather or flooding.

"Now, as you can see on the map New Kobol has three main continents. The largest continent which we have labeled Alpha, the one that comes down from the arctic region, is largely mountainous. The two smaller ones are less rugged. The smallest continent, Delta, is positioned fairly northward. The middle size continent, Beta, is more equatorial. It has a mostly tropical and sub-tropical climate."

He then showed a few high altitude photographs the Beta continent.

"Certain areas of it though have what our EDN brethren would call a Mediterranean climate. It has four large freshwater seas, and several navigable rivers."

He then began showing photographs of various plants on the planet.

"My crew and I also looked at the types of plant life on New Kobol. In our limited time we've found that there are no alien life forms on the planet. Everything we've examined is an existing species on Earth. We anticipate no problems growing food or raising domestic animals. Therefore, our recommendation is for the first settlements to be placed in the most northern region, the 'Mediterranean' zone of the Beta continent. Commander?"

"Thank you, Captain Reuben," Apollo said from his seat. "Now, Captain Solon of the Livery ship will give the animal life survey update, Captain Solon."

The commanding officer of the Livery ship rose from his seat and took his place behind the podium. He too had a presentation that he called up on the view screen.

"I'm Captain Solon of the Livery ship. As Captain Reuben just said, we've been making our own photo surveys of the animal life on New Kobol. In addition we placed multiple observation posts on the surface to passively observe what kinds and number of species we could observe. Finally, soil samples were taken and shared with the Agro-ship's crew to determine what kinds of micro fauna were present on the planet. Not surprisingly, the variety of animals is the same as was on the Colonies and on Earth. As New Kobol is a terraformed world, this was to be expected.

"Since arriving on Earth we've replenished our stock of typical farm animals and are well prepared to establish livestock farms along with the grain and vegetable farms in the designated landing areas. Additionally, there are herds of bovine and other useful animals present below that we can supplement our own herds from. Finally, we concur with the suggested landing area that the Agro-ship's crew has suggested. Their target area has many suitable areas for animal husbandry. That's all I have, Commander."

"Thank you, Captain Solon," Apollo said while Solon returned to his seat in the audience. "Next, Captain Maron of Mineral ship Ophira will present the geological resource survey results, Captain Maron."

"Thank you, Commander," Maron began while calling up his presentation. The first slide showed a similar map to the climate map of New Kobol. His map showed likely deposits of various important ores and minerals.

"Here is another map of New Kobol. Orbital scans have shown that there are rich mineral deposits for most useful metals, both radioactive and non-radioactive, and rare-earth metals. This is not surprising as New Kobol is a pristine world, untouched by man or machine except for what was needed for the terraforming. The most mountainous continent, Alpha, has the highest concentration of useful ores including a large Tylium deposit in the arctic region. As you can see, though, there are useful deposits worldwide including in the range east of the proposed initial settlement site. I don't foresee any trouble obtaining the resources we need both for the new settlement and for the war effort."

There were many silent nods around the room as the audience remembered that despite the peace they have had for the last five years the Cylons would continue to be a threat. Maron nodded toward Apollo to indicate that he was done with his presentation. He returned to his seat while Apollo stood to the podium again.

"Today's final presentation will be Dr. Wilker. He will tell us his team's search for 13th Tribe artifacts, Dr. Wilker."

The Galactica's long time scientist took his place at the podium and called up his presentation.

"Hello, my team and I was tasked to look into the method used by the 13th Tribe to terraform New Kobol and to search for any artifacts, other than the lunar repository, that may still exist."

Wilker called up several close up pictures of the images from the lunar repository.

"As you can see here the 13th Tribe found this world with a thinner atmosphere, about half that of Earth's with a much higher concentration of carbon dioxide. Unlike Venus, the planet had a respectable amount of Nitrogen which prevented a runaway green house effect. The planet was also a dry place with only a few lakes and streams. No life was present."

He changed pictures again.

"First, the 13th Tribe maneuvered a planetoid into orbit, identical to the orbit of Luna over the Earth. The stated reason in the repository was to aid in the planet's plate tectonics which was nearly stagnant. They then impacted the planet with icy comets to increase the amount of water on the planet. Third, they seeded the planet with life, beginning with microbes in the oceans and lakes later transitioning to the larger plants and finally animal forms once the Oxygen content in the atmosphere and waters was high enough to support them."

He called up another picture. It showed a heavily eroded concrete foundation. Bits of rusted metal were attached to several locations on the house size slab.

"The planet's atmosphere was pretty dusty after the impacts," Wilker went on. "So, for the final step in the process of terraforming New Kobol, the 13th Tribe set up atmosphere conditioning units all over the planet to remove dust from the atmosphere and to ensure the proper ratio of gasses was achieved. They were powered by underground fission reactors and used aerostats to reach the dust in the high atmosphere. As you can see little is left of the surface components of those facilities. The power sources were completely fail safe and sealed to prevent radioactive contamination. Most were buried nearly thirty meters below the surface. When burying was not practical they were encased in concrete several meters thick.

"These surface installations were the only artifacts other than the lunar repository we have identified. No other 13th Tribe artifacts have been found to this date, though we hope to discover more with further exploration."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – 22 November 2010

It was a bright, sunny day on New Kobol. The sounds of heavy machinery and power tools filled the air along with the smells of burnt gasoline, diesel, and wood which filled the nose. Apollo stood silently amid the organized chaos as work crews ceaselessly labored around him clearing and preparing land and erecting buildings on the site of New Eden, the future capital of the new Colonial nation. A short while ago he had shuttled down from the Galactica, landing on the bare dirt field being used as a space port for the new settlement that would soon be the Colonial capital city on New Kobol. Also on the field were many of the expedition's smaller ships, shuttles, and small craft. Apollo wasn't alone in his contemplation of the work being done.

"It looks like work is progressing well," Apollo said to the elderly man standing next to him.

"Indeed," Sire Uri replied with a smile. The other members of the Council had flown down from the Galactica with Apollo to see firsthand the state of construction in New Eden. The budding city was set near the mouth of a small river that drained a semi-tropical plain twelve degrees north of New Kobol's equator. The river emptied into a large bay that faced north-north-west. South east of the plain was a range of low mountains similar to the Pyrenees of Spain. Inland seas lay both south-west and east of the plain the city was being built on.

Earth built heavy construction equipment constantly moved around the work sites of the settlement. Apollo, Uri, and the rest of the Council could see the foundations and the beginnings of the new Solium (Hydrogen fusion) power plant being built. They could also see the beginnings of a large pyramid forming in what would be the center of the new city. It was being built to house the Colonial government. Everywhere they could see water, power, and sewer services being installed. Surrounding the central pyramid apartment buildings, factories, and shops were being built.

As Apollo, Uri, and the other councilors continued to discuss the state of development of the settlements on New Kobol two Vipers flew silently through the outer reaches of the Alpha Centauri solar system. Piloting one of the Vipers on the training patrol was Apollo's son Zac (Zachariah). He was Apollo and Sheba's second child and, like his older sister Ruth, was a member of the Colonial Training Squadron. By the time the Fleet had arrived in Earth's solar system five years agohe had earned his Viper pilot certification and was taking advanced Viper combat training. He and his sister were sitting in their Vipers in the Galactica's Beta bay when Baltar had destroyed the Alpha bay with a nuclear suicide bomb.

After launching from the Galactica, Zac, under the lead of Lieutenant Sabra of Green Squadron, had practiced some space combat maneuvering with another departing training patrol. Then they had proceeded to their patrol area, the outer reaches of the Alpha Centauri system nearest to Earth. After settling into their patrol zone Lt. Sabra noticed a contact on his scanner but waited until Zac reported it.

"Sabra," Zac called a few seconds later. "I have a contact on my long range scanner."

"Run an IFF and Warbook scan," Sabra ordered.

"IFF reports EDN codes for their Second Task Force…The Warbook also shows several EDN ships; a battleship, two destroyers, and three frigates…Our mission orders do not show this movement of ships."

"That's right so…."

"I'll report it to Core Command," Zac replied before opening a channel to the Galactica's flight controllers.

"Gamma 1, this is patrol Delta 2," he called.

"Go ahead, Delta 2," a flight controller on the Galactica replied.

"We have a scanner contact just entering our patrol area. IFF and Warbook read as friendly."

"You are directed to intercept the contact," the Galactica flight controller replied a moment later. "Make a visual range pass of the contact and report your findings."

"Let's see what they are," Sabra said. "Hit your turbos." Both warriors swung their Viper to an intercept heading and thumbed their turbo buttons on their control sticks. They were pressed back against their seats as they accelerated towards their scanner contacts. Minutes later they approached the formation of ships heading toward Alpha Centauri.

"We're almost within visual range," Sabra announced, both to Zac and to the Galactica.

"Very well," the flight controller on the Galactica replied. The controller and the command staff in the Galactica's CIC were all curious about the unscheduled flight from Earth's solar system.

The patrol's scanners now were able to pick out details of the ships structure. They confirmed that they were EDN ships.

"We're now within visual range," Sabra announced. "IFF and Warbook confirm friendly contacts, though I don't know why they are flying under radio and scanner silence."

Just then a signal came from the EDN task force. "Delta patrol, this is Epsilon Six," the actual commander of the escort ships of the task force called. "You are clear for rendezvous and close approach. We'll be dispatching a courier with our orders after we arrive at Beta Two and coordinate with Sigma Six." Sigma Six referred to the commander of the Saratoga's task force, TF 2.1.

"Thank you, Epsilon Six," Sabra replied while maneuvering his Viper to pass within ten kilometers of the force of EDN ships he was approaching. Zac matched his maneuvers. A moment later the two Vipers were within visual range of the ships. They made a quick pass by the EDN task force then activated their turbos again to return to their patrol pattern. A few hours later they returned to the Galactica. During their post mission briefing they turned over their scanner logs to be analyzed. The analyst who reviewed the Delta patrol's data noted a major discrepancy in the configuration of one of the EDN ships and forwarded the data to Colonel Bojay.

"Hmmm, why would the EDN send an incomplete ship to B-2," Bojay asked himself late that afternoon, just after dinner was served, as he showed the data in turn to Commander Apollo and Colonel Omega in the CIC. A CIC technician had the scanner data up on one of the display pedestals.

"That's definitely an EDN battleship," Omega commented. "It has all its defensive weaponry, but where are the mega pulsar turrets?"

"There's an odd structure on her bow," Apollo observed. "Please bring the ship's bow into the view better," he ordered the technician.

"What is that," Bojay asked.

"I have no idea," the others said at the same time. They looked quickly at each other and chuckled.

Apollo turned to a communication technician. "Call Lieutenant Hoeing to CIC," he ordered.

High above the Galactica's main engineering deck two figures climbed a ladder. The noise of the ship's engines forced the two to wear hearing protection. Cadet Ruth led the way up the ladder while Lieutenant Hoeing, a small satchel slung over one shoulder, followed below. It was a short climb, just up one level, but he looked up a couple of times to see how she was doing, also to catch glimpses of her round, attractively shaped bottom. The climb led to a hatch at the top of the ladder which she opened at the touch of a button. The original hatch being too heavy, long ago Apollo had added an actuator to it. With an amused smile on his face Hoeing followed Ruth through the hatch. She then pressed another button to close the hatch. Immediately the noise fell to a tolerable level. Ruth and Matthew took off their hearing protection.

During the previous months the couple had spent as much time together as their duties permitted and decorum allowed. They did not get much time together. Her training schedule was quite full and as an officer in training much of her free time was consumed by her studies. Much of the time they did spend together was during their appointed meal times. They would sometimes take a quiet walk together after eating or they would talk in a corner of the Wardroom, the Pilot's Ready Room, or other places they could find away from prying eyes and ears. Finally, Bojay authorized a twenty four hour break for the tired trainees. Ruth knew immediately where to go for some peace and quiet.

"My father took me up here when I was a little girl," Ruth said while climbing up the pedestal in the middle of the domed room. "Come on up," she added while sitting on the controller's chair. Matthew set his small burden down and climbed up to stand behind her on the platform. He held onto the back of the chair as she activated the various instruments' power.

"I hope you like this," she said as she flipped a final switch. The armored petals covering the dome split like a flower leaving only the transparent Tylenium dome between them and the vacuum of space.

"Wow," Matthew said a long moment later after taking in the spectacular view. He looked down over the top of her head at another spectacular view. She tilted her head back to see the expression on his face. She smiled when she saw his look of appreciation.

"I knew that this navigation pod…"

"Celestial Dome," she corrected gently.

"I knew it existed from reviewing the plans for the Galactica's reconstruction," Hoeing went on. "I didn't realize how great the view would be. It's wonderful." The Galactica was in a stationary orbit above the latitude of the New Eden settlement. Those ships of the first expedition that have not landed flew in formation nearby, but far enough away they appeared as moving points of light. Only the EDN escort ships that were assigned to the Galactica were close enough to recognize.

"Mother told me that when father first took her up here that he said that being here was like riding in the hand of God."

"That sounds just about right," he said as he slid his left hand around the side of the chair and gently touched a lock of her hair on the way to rest his fingers on her shoulder. It was the first time he had touched her since he kissed the back of her hand after their first date. A barely noticeable tremor passed through Ruth at Matthew's gentle caress.

_He's too much the proper gentleman_, she thought as she turned her head around to look at Matthew over the shoulder he was touching. A gentle smile formed across her lips.

"We should eat before the food gets cold," she suggested.

Matthew climbed down from the pedestal. Ruth followed while he opened the satchel he had brought and distributed two Styrofoam dinner containers, drinks, and utensils. He sat on the floor, leaning against the dome's wall on one side of the food. Ruth sat likewise on the other side of the food. Matthew then said a quick prayer of thanks before opening his dinner package. The two ate silently while watching the stars and starships pass slowly by outside the dome. When their dinner was finished Matthew placed the waste in the satchel and set it aside. He then slid closer to Ruth to the point where their arms almost touched. She took the invitation and nestled against him. He then snaked his arm around her back. The two sat silently watching the stars go by for a moment relishing in the comfort of their casual embrace.

Matthew almost forcefully took his eyes off the view of the heavens and turned to the young woman beside him.

"Ruth, I…" he began. She quickly turned toward him; her upturned lips were just inches from his own.

"Oh, never mind," he quickly said before his own lips almost leapt the small distance to meet hers in a first, tentative, yet with a budding passion, kiss. Then the intercom that was added to the Celestial Dome intruded on them.

"Lieutenant Hoeing, report to CIC immediately. Lieutenant Hoeing, report to CIC immediately."

"Crap," Matthew said as the two suddenly broke apart. Her simultaneous "frak" gave Matthew a quick chuckle as he jumped to his feet and fairly leaped up the ladder to answer the call.

"I'm in the Celestial Dome. I'll be there as fast as I can. It'll be a few minutes."

"Very well," replied the communications operator in CIC.

Nearly ten minutes later, a slightly breathless Lieutenant Hoeing arrived in the CIC. Ruth waited outside hoping that he wouldn't be there long. He saw Commander Apollo at one of the display pedestals and stopped before him.

"Reporting as ordered, Commander," he said. Apollo, Omega and Bojay smiled at the formality.

"Very well, Lieutenant," Apollo replied while waving at an image on the pedestal. "I called you here because there was an unscheduled ship movement from the Solar System which arrived about an hour ago."

Hoeing gave the three officers a puzzled look. "Sorry," he said.

"They were detected by one of my patrols," Apollo went on. "Their scans of the ships during a flyby revealed an anomaly on the largest ship, a battleship. For some reason the EDN sent her to Centauri without her main pulsar turrets."

"Oh," Hoeing said. "That's strange. I can't image why the Admiral would send out an incomplete ship."

"So, you don't know anything about it," Apollo asked.

Hoeing shook his head and said, "No, Commander."

"We'll just have to wait until their courier arrives," Omega said.

"A courier," Hoeing asked.

"Yes," Bojay began to explain, "the commander of that task force said that a courier would be send to us to inform us of the purpose of the unscheduled ship movement. It has been a couple of hours so they should be on their way soon."

Apollo took Hoeing by the elbow and escorted him out the CIC door.

"Until they get here you and I are going to discuss a personal matter," he said. As the two walked out the door they saw Ruth there waiting. "All the better," he added. "Come with us," he told his daughter.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 – 22 November 2010

The short walk to the Commander's quarters was made in silence. Apollo keyed his door and led the others into the unoccupied room. Captain Sheba was on patrol with her squadron.

"Have a seat," he said as he sat down behind his desk while the others sat down opposite him. He looked Ruth and Matthew over briefly then looked his daughter in the eye.

"Your mother and I had a discussion about you recently."

Ruth lifted her chin slightly while screwing up her nerve to defend herself. Hoeing sat stoically in his chair. Apollo chuckled at her response.

"We just wanted you to know that we are aware of how much time you two," he glanced at Hoeing, "are spending together. We also appreciate how you both have been acting with discretion. While the crew knows that you two are involved, or are at least good friends, I have heard of no public displays of affection to cause unfortunate rumors."

The conversation paused as Ruth and Matthew both breathed sighs of relief that Ruth's parents were being supportive of their blooming relationship. They had both felt fear when they had followed Apollo to his quarters.

"I've tried to act like a proper gentleman," Hoeing finally said. "Gentlemanly behavior is something the EDN strongly enforces." Ruth looked askance at Matthew.

"He's too much of a proper gentleman," she blurted out. Her mouth then formed a perfect circle of shock which she quickly covered with her hand. Apollo chuckled again while Matthew maintained his stoic demeanor.

"That said I want to let you know that Sheba and I have discussed your _situation_ and as long as there are no violations of professional conduct you may continue to see each other as your duties permit. Now…what were you two doing in the Celestial Dome?"

"Father," Ruth replied with a shocked voice.

Apollo intercom beeped for attention saving Ruth and Matthew from a slightly embarrassing explanation. Apollo picked up the receiver.

"Apollo," he said into the phone. He listened for a moment.

"I'll be right there," he concluded then hung up the receiver. "Ruth, please return to your duties. Lieutenant, come with me back to CIC."

"Yes, Commander," Hoeing replied while standing.

"Father, I'm currently on a twenty four hour break," Ruth announced.

"Very well," Apollo replied. "You can stay here and wait for your mother, return to your quarters, or come with us."

"OK," she replied while standing next to Hoeing. Apollo then led the young couple back to CIC. As Apollo entered CIC, Colonel Omega waved him over to a display pedestal. Hoeing followed Apollo over while Ruth hovered near the door unsure where to go. She had never been to the CIC before.

"Commander," Omega began, "the EDN courier just passed the outer marker. They'll be landing in about fifteen centons."

"Colonel, have a detail meet with the courier and bring them to the executive conference room."

"Yes, Commander," Omega replied before moving off to a communications terminal. Apollo looked and saw that Hoeing was nearby, but his daughter was not. He turned and saw her near the entry and waved her over.

"Lieutenant, we have a few centons to kill, so please show Cadet Ruth around CIC for me."

"Aye, aye, Commander," he replied before moving to give Ruth a walk around CIC, explaining the purpose of all the stations and displays. Apollo and Omega watched the progress of the EDN courier shuttle as it approached the Galactica for a landing in the Beta Bay. Once the courier had disembarked and met their escort, Apollo ordered Omega, Hoeing and Ruth to accompany him to the conference room.

The courier and his escort arrived at the conference room to find Apollo and the rest sitting around the table waiting for him. The courier stepped up to Apollo and presented himself.

"Commander, I'm Captain Stewart, EDN Intelligence," he announced while standing across the table from Apollo. "Admiral Stevens and Captain Starbuck send their greetings. I'm here to explain the unannounced ship movement your patrol detected earlier today." He passed a small portfolio over to Apollo who opened it to see a picture of the modified battleship that the patrol had detected. A few sheets of schematics and descriptions followed. "System Defense Monitor," was boldly printed across the title page. He also unfolded a poster sized drawing to show a simplified, cut-away schematic of the ship across the table. The three Colonial Officers and Lieutenant Hoeing leaned over to look at the schematic.

"This is a schematic of our newest addition to the EDN fleet," Steward began. "In the engagement between the Battleship Washington and her task force against the Cylon Baseship that was sent to attack the Earth five years ago, EDN leadership realized that we needed a weapon system with more punch."

_This looks vaguely familiar_, Apollo thought while his finger traced part of the schematic on the table before him.

"So, we looked into something Captain Starbuck told us about a while back," Stewart went on, a grin spreading across his face.

"Holy Frack," Apollo exclaimed as the realization of what he was looking at finally dawned on him. A look of shock mixed with pleasure and a little dread appeared on his face.

"Father," Ruth exclaimed, surprised at the very unusual outburst of her father. "What is it?"

"Is that what I think it is," Omega asked.

Apollo sat down on a chair, his ability to speak gone for a moment then he began to explain. "Do you remember my telling you about the most miserably cold place I ever went to," he asked his daughter.

"Arcta," she answered after a moment's thought. "You mean…"

"That's a Ravishol Pulsar built in a battleship's frame," Stewart said.

Omega too began to grin.

"I assume the weapon is operational," Apollo said.

"That's correct, Commander," Stewart replied. "We did subscale prototype testing underground on the Moon, then took the battleship frame that was under construction and modified it to accept the weapon. We have no idea how the output of the pulsar compares to the actual device Doctor Ravishol developed. Obviously, it was a serious threat to the Galactica. The Monitor will violently decompose a tenth kilometer diameter asteroid in a single blast at a range of a quarter light second."

"That's about seventy thousand metrics," Omega quickly calculated. "I'm impressed."

"Regretfully, powering the weapon takes all the available power on the ship."

"That shouldn't be a problem with the large number of escort ships that the EDN is known for," Apollo said. "So, the Monitor will be stationed over B-2?"

"That's right," Stewart replied. "We built a ground based weapon near the moon base once the Monitor's was completed. We intend to build at least one on B-2's moon."

"Will you provide plans so we can build similar installations on New Kobol's moon," Apollo asked.

"Admiral Stevens said that you and your council will have to make that request directly to the EDN leadership committee, but for now I'll pass along your informal request."

"That's fine. I need to brief the Council on this development first anyway." Apollo replied. _Now, what happens if the Cylons try to attack_, he asked himself. _They get a very nasty surprise_. A grin began spreading across his face as he began thinking of various scenarios involving a mobile Ravishol pulsar.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 – 22 November 2010

In deep space, far outside the Oort cloud of the Alpha Centauri system, a Cylon base ship floated silently. It had just arrived at the outskirts of the Centauri system. The base ship launched a single Raider which turned to fly towards the brighter of the two stars. The base ship jumped back to light speed and stopped at two additional points around the Centauri system. Each time it launched a single Raider. Then it departed the system.

The crews of the three Raiders pointed their fighters toward the center of the Centauri system and shut off their drives. They then activated recently installed, highly sensitive, passive sensor arrays and began to collect data. The Raiders flew silently for several days while their highly sensitive sensor packages determined the number and location of ships and the size of the human population on the various ships and worlds within the system. Their base ship came back after a week and began to pick up the Raiders it had dropped off. It picked up the first two without incident. The third proved a bit more difficult.

000

Lieutenant "Viking" Paul Huber, Viking because of his Danish ancestry and appearance, and his intercept officer, Lieutenant JG Eric "Arrow" Carter, stepped through the hatch into the Saratoga's pilot briefing room. They quickly found their seats and prepared to take notes for their upcoming patrol mission. The two were quiet as they sat down while the other pilots assigned to the patrol mission chatted among themselves.

Carter had noted that his team leader was in one of his moods when they woke up for their shift in their shared cabin. He had noted the distant look in Huber's eyes. After performing their morning rituals and getting their breakfast in the ward room they made their way quietly to the briefing room. Carter knew already what haunted Huber, he was a troubled man.

Huber, a former US Air Force captain and F-15 pilot, was a veteran of the First Gulf War with two MiGs shot down to his credit. While he was serving in the Gulf, his wife and two small children were left at home at Langley AFB, Virginia. One day his wife, Lisa, left their kids, a son and a daughter, at home with a sitter and drove off to visit a girl friend and to do some off base shopping during the evening. While stopping at an ATM an armed man approached her and demanded both the money she had just withdrawn and her purse.

"Move over, cracker bitch," the man had demanded after she had given him what he wanted. "We're going to have some fun," he said with a predatory smile.

He then pushed her into her car, across to the front passenger seat and sat down in the driver's seat. Two hours later, she found herself walking along side a back road in the city, her clothes were torn and in disarray and tears were in her eyes. Eventually, she reached a payphone and called the police.

The news of what happened to his wife struck Paul hard. He requested and was approved emergency leave to return to Langley. He arrived there in a cold rage over what happened to his wife. The Langley Virginia police department was working hard to find and arrest Lisa's attacker. Tests were performed after the attack. Thankfully, neither showed that Lisa had gotten pregnant nor contracted any STDs from the assault. After a discussion with his wife, Huber informed his supervisor that he would be requesting an early release from the Air Force under humanitarian and hardship reasons. Six months later the family found themselves relocating to Naper, Nebraska where Paul would become a pilot for Colonial Charters.

When Huber sent his application, the personnel office of Colonial Charters quickly noted his work qualifications. They immediately saw that he would be a good recruit to the EDN. While processing his application and sending him an offer of employment second to none they contacted EDN Intelligence to run a proper background check on him and his family.

Huber discussed the offer from the various airlines with his wife once all of their replies had come in. It was obvious that the Colonial Charters one was more generous than any of the others. Lisa had balked slightly at moving to Nebraska, but knowing that they would be living in what was really a large gated community with full amenities she agreed. It helped that they would be much closer to their families in Oregon. Unspoken by both was the fact that Nebraska, and the Colonial Industries compound, would be a much safer place for Lisa and their children.

A few months later, after the background check had been completed, the EDN recruitment liaison to Colonial Charters authorized Huber's further recruitment. The EDN recruitment office had recognized that, because what had happened to his wife, Paul would be a zealous recruit to the service.

This morning Paul had received a message from his wife saying that his son had broken his leg while participating in sports while attending the moon base's school. She had also told him that she would be missing him greatly for the upcoming Thanksgiving celebration. The absence pained Paul, but as a military professional, he understood the need of being deployed to the Centauri system.

Paul, now as in the past, used what happened to his wife and all the other setbacks in his life to drive him to work harder, to be a better pilot and hopefully later, a better husband when he was reunited with his family. The alternative was to slide into a depressive funk and that didn't suit the highly driven man. The side effect of his drive was a very stoic demeanor and a tendency to shy away from others, the one exception being his intercept officer, Lt. Carter. He had gotten to know the younger man quite well over the last few years, the battle over Mars was a strong incentive to work together closely and get to know each other better.

Huber appreciated how Carter gave him his space this morning. While sitting in the briefing room chair he realized that he was being too hard on himself and his partner.

Huber turned to his partner and simply said "Thank you" a moment before jumping to his feet as his squadron commander entered to give the morning briefing and issue the day's patrol orders. A short time later the two were rocketing through space in their F-1 Lightning on course to their patrol area, a second F-1 from their squadron accompanying them on patrol as Hound One and Two.

Once the flight reached their patrol area they decelerated to their patrol speed and settled down to monitor their instruments. It wasn't long before something surprising happened.

"Vike, I've got something odd," Carter noted from the back seat of their Lightning.

"What do you have," Huber asked.

"The passive scanner shows a very faint infrared source just at the edge of our detection range that wasn't there the last time that area was scanned," Carter reported.

"It's probably a rock that has moved in-system and is reflecting the suns a bit, but," Huber paused for effect. "We'll check it out to make sure." He turned on his transmitter.

"Hound one calling Hound two, over," he called.

"Go ahead Hound one," replied the pilot of the other Lightning in the patrol.

"Please confirm the IR source in sector six."

"We've got it too."

"Very well, we'll inform Home Plate."

"Roger."

Carter called the potential contact in to the Saratoga then, when their orders came, changed course and accelerated.

The Cylons on board the modified Raider noted the actions of the EDN patrol almost immediately.

"Missile fighters have changed course and velocity," the Raider's scanner operator reported. "They are approaching our position."

"Time of arrival," the crew leader asked.

"Fifteen centons," the first Cylon replied.

"Our Base ship will arrive in thirteen point five centons," the crew leader announced. "Maintain minimum emissions profile."

"By your command," the other two Cylons replied.

"The spectrograph is starting to report," Carter announced as Hound Flight continued toward the contact.

Huber brought up the sensor data on his screen. "Hmm, it's largely metallic: Aluminum, Iron, Copper, Lithium…"

"And now a large Carbon signature," Carter added, "with high energy Helium in the surrounding space."

"Call the Saratoga and inform them we have a potential Cylon target in-system," Huber ordered. "We're proceeding with the intercept. Maintain passive and navigation scans for now, no targeting scanners yet."

"Aye, aye," Carter replied as he began to make the calls.

In the Saratoga's CIC AdmiralKennymore was notified of the potential Cylon contact. He examined the main plot of ships in the system and moved to speak to his Operation's Officer.

"I strongly suspect that if this contact is legitimate it will be a Cylon snooper. Let's make sure the Cylons don't get away with their intelligence."

The operations officer readily agreed and moved to send a message back to Huber's patrol flight.

_So, they are back_, Kennymore thought. _It was a nice little vacation while it lasted, but I always knew that wouldn't last._ Kennymore followed his operation's officer to the communications station to have a general alert message sent to all ships in the system and another to the moon base to inform them of the situation.

"Vike, we just got new orders," Carter announced. "We're to verify the identity of the contact and weapons are free if it is a Cylon."

"What's our ETA, Arrow?"

"Begin deceleration in twenty three seconds. We'll intercept in two point five minutes."

"Decelerating," Huber announced. Simultaneously both the fighters in the patrol spun 180 degrees to point their engines in their direction of flight and went to full power.

"Oh crap," Carter exclaimed over the intercom a moment later. "A Cylon Base ship has decelerated from light speed fifty clicks from our target."

"Call it in," Huber ordered as he swung his fighter around while Hound Two did the same having received the same information. "Weapons free," he called to Carter and his wing mate.

"Base Ship on scanners," the Cylon scanner operator reported.

"Activate all systems," the lead Cylon ordered."Prepare for docking. Transmit all data."

"By your command," the other two replied while running the Raider's power plant to combat power and charging their weapons systems and scanners. Once their engines were running they turned their craft toward the base ship.

"The base ship is launching fighters," Carter announced.

"That's it then," Huber said. "Abort intercept," he ordered. He and the pilot of Hound Two pulled their sticks over to avoid the approaching phalanx of Cylon fighters. Minutes later, out of range of the Base Ship's weapons, they watched as the Base Ship recovered all of the Raiders and went accelerated light speed.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16 – 23 November 2010

Commander Apollo, Colonel Omega and Lieutenant Hoeing stepped out of their shuttle onto the flight deck of the USS Saratoga. They were immediately greeted by the Saratoga's executive officer, Commander Timothy Cole, who led them straight to the ship's executive conference room. There they found most of the Saratoga's senior staff waiting.

"Admiral Kennymore will be here shortly," Cole announced while standing to one side of the door.

The three took a seat while looking around the room. They saw that the mood of the room was somber as the news of the Cylons arrival in the system was known to all. A short moment later, Cole re-entered the room followed by Kennymore.

"Gentlemen, please remain seated," he said as he took his chair at the head of the table. He turned to look at the Colonial officers. "Thank you for coming over, Commander."

"You're welcome," Apollo replied.

"I've just received a communiqué from EDN headquarters," Kennymore announced. "They are now aware of the recent Cylon scouting and will be checking the Solar System perimeter for evidence of similar incursions. EDN leadership and Intelligence have both concluded that the Cylons must have some nearby base or bases to stage their scouting missions from. They will be sending out reconnaissance missions to all the nearby systems and to various deep space bodies to find them. Some of our supporting cruisers will be re-tasked to that effort.

"Won't this leave us more exposed," asked the Saratoga screen commander, Captain Smith.

"The Boston and Philadelphia will be remaining in-system," Kennymore went on. "But we will be losing our light cruisers to the scouting effort. Now, I know our crews have been training pretty hard, but I think it is time to suspend inter-fleet exercises to concentrate our assets in case of an attack. I don't want our ships and crews caught in the middle of an exercise. None of us know when the Cylons will attack, but attack they will.

"Commander Apollo, do you have any insight on what the Cylons will do next?"

Apollo sat up straighter in his chair. "I can only guess, admiral. They will probably go over their intelligence and attack when they feel the balance of forces is in their favor, but they will not be subtle with their strategy. Unless the Imperious Leader is directly involved in the attack they will lack innovation and flexibility. They got a surprise a few years ago. They will not overestimate their opposition again. Probably, they have spent the intervening time working on new tactics as well as gathering forces. Your guess is as good as mine as for when they will attack and with how many ships."

"Well then let's go to the Flag Plot and take some time to go over our deployment and operations plans to see if they can be improved," Kennymore said. With that the officers stood and followed Kennymore out of the room.

"Commander's Log: 23 November 2010

"I have just returned from meeting with the Council of the Twelve. The other members have taken the news of the Cylon monitoring of the Centauri system well. I had expected a measure of unease, but mostly I sensed determination, determination that we would do everything in our power to prevent the Cylons from destroying the remnant of our peoples and our new homes.

"The construction schedule on New Kobol was revised. Civilian construction not needed for the war effort, and we are now at war, was deferred while military and civil defense construction was made the priority. Underground shelters and defensive weapons emplacements, using the Galactica's old batteries, are first on the revised schedule. Dispersal plans for personnel and equipment that cannot be protected by weapons emplacements or bunkers are being drawn up. Thankfully, most of our people are still back on the much better protected moon base. We'll not be caught unprepared, like at the Battle of Cimtar, again."

000

The Cylon Imperious Leader sat unmoving on his throne. Its thoughts were on the perpetual thorn in its side, the wayward band of humans that had fled the destruction of the Colonial nation nearly thirty yahren ago. It thought back to the sequence of events that led to the current situation. How the Cylons had used a traitor to defeat the Colonial Fleet at Cimtar and how they then had destroyed the Twelve Colonies. But then was the discovery of the human remnant led by Commander Adama and the Battlestar Galactica and how they successfully fled the Colonies, and thwarting the Cylon pursuit, made their way to the adjacent spiral arm of the galaxy to find human allies. The Colonials and their new allies then defeated the trailing Cylon baseships using tactics and weaponry that were unknown to either the Colonials or the Cylons.

Since the defeat at the far away human solar system a string of outposts was created to support future Cylon base ship deployments. At the furthest outpost a force of ten baseships was waiting for orders. Deployed with them were the latest technological updates to counter the new human tactics and weapons, decoys and improved jammers to make their missiles less effective.

Now, the results of the surveillance missions to the solar system of the Colonial's human allies and the worlds they were colonizing in the adjacent solar system were in. They reported that small human colonies had been established on the two habitable worlds of the adjacent system. Also, significant elements of the combined forces of the humans were there too. The Imperious leader contemplated the information for a moment, his three brains churning through the data. The Leader's third brain, the most intuitive and supervisory of the three, came to a conclusion. The humans had divided their strength. There was now an opportunity to destroy both new colonies and the military elements deployed with them. The leader sent out the orders.

4 December 2010

Flight Officer Captain Athena opened the door to her quarters after a long twelve hour shift. It has been nearly two weeks since the spotting of the Cylon scouts and Athena was tired. Stepping into her quarters she saw that the lights were dimmed and her husband was at the desk working on his computer.

Greenbean looked up at his tired wife as she shut the door to his quarters and walked towards him.

"Hi, love," he said as she turned his chair and sat on his lap. She then put her arms around her husband's shoulders, quickly pecked him on the lips, and rested her head in the crook of his neck.

"Tired huh," he asked rhetorically while putting his arms around her. He could see what her state was.

"Hmm, hmm," she replied while looking up at the computer screen. "Going over those plans again," she asked.

"Yeah, the Commander ordered another design cycle on them now that Cylon threat has increased."

For the last ten years Greenbean was the officer in charge of Warrior training. With the establishment of a settlement on New Kobol, the Council ordered the construction of a new Colonial Military Academy. They assigned an architect to work with the military to design the new facility. Apollo assigned Greenbean to the task. During the long flight from the Colonies only Warrior training was formalized, and took place on the Galactica, all other military training, meaning crew training for the Galactica, was done 'on-the-job.' The new Colonial Military Academy was to take over all officer and crew training for the Fleet. The design of the new facility was initially based on the original Caprican Military School. The design was revised after consulting with EDN training officers and again after the threat of Cylon attack increased just recently.

"Is Ilia asleep?"

"I put her to bed over a centar ago."

Athena reached up and turned off the monitor, quickly kissed her husband's lips, and looked him in the eye. "I'm ready for bed too," she said with a twinkle in her eye. They both got up and walked to the door of the second bedroom of their quarters. After opening the door a crack they could see that their second daughter was asleep on her bed. Their oldest daughter, Andromeda, named after Greenbean's grandmother, was back on the moon base continuing her university studies.

A moment later the two were in their own bedroom.

"I want another baby," Athena told her Greenbean as they were preparing to go to sleep.

He gave her a questioning look to which she nodded. Then they kissed passionately while lying down on the bed.

Most of the night later, they were rudely awakened as the Galactica's klaxon sounded.

"Battle stations, battle stations, all personnel take your battle stations," Flight Officer Lieutenant Rigel announced over the ship's public address system. "All warriors report to the launch bays. Damage repair teams report to your lockers. Gunnery crews man your posts. Civilians report to your assigned shelters. Battle stations, all personnel take your battle stations."


	17. Chapter 17A

Chapter 17A – 5 December 2010

4:30 AM

Apollo raced down the red lit corridor the short distance from his quarters to the Galactica's CIC. He had been asleep in his quarters when the alert sounded. He and Sheba had leapt from their bed and hurriedly dressed before reporting to their posts, Apollo to the CIC and Sheba to Alpha Bay to lead her squadron. As he ran down the hall he saw his brother in law, Greenbean, exit his quarters heading toward the turbo-lift to Beta Bay. Behind Greenbean, Athena emerged with their daughter to take her to the shelter.

"Report," Apollo ordered as he entered the CIC and stepped to the nearest display pedestal. He saw that Colonel Omega was already there monitoring the developing situation and Colonel Bojay standing near the other command pedestal display coordinating the launch of the alert Vipers. He saw Lieutenant Hoeing standing by the second display pedestal ready to answer any questions Apollo and his staff might have.

"Commander," Omega began. "One of the automated deep space probes has detected four Cylon base ships entering the system. An EDN outer patrol has detected four more." He then pointed out the locations and headings of the Cylons when they were detected on the plot. "They are approaching both New Kobol and B-2 at light-speed. We have about thirty centons before they drop from light-speed and begin their attack. The crew has manned their battle stations," Omega went on. "The civilians are moving to their shelters. The shelter coordinators will give us their count in a few centons. Our EDN escorts all report at full battle readiness and the Aegis data links have been established."

"It looks like we'll be attacked first, but just by a few centons," Apollo commented after examining the plot on the display in front of him. He looked up at Omega. "Let's make those thirty centons count. I want the fleet and our Vipers in position per the defense plan."

"What's the status on New Kobol," Apollo then asked.

"They reported that they were moving their people to the shelters. The active ground batteries are being manned and readied. Also, the retired warriors on reserve duty are manning their land-rams."

_That's the best we could do on short notice_, Apollo thought about the preparations made on New Kobol in case of a Cylon attack, "And the civilian ships?"

"They have retreated to the up-sun position ten thousand metrics from the Galactica per the defense plan," Omega reported.

Bojay stepped over to Apollo's pedestal. "Commander, I've ordered the launch of the alert Vipers and have recalled the outer patrols. All other pilots are reporting to the launch bays.

"Get them in position as soon as possible per the defense plan," Apollo ordered before stepping over to a communications station.

"Get Admiral Kennymore on the Comline," he ordered.

The communications technician made the call to the Saratoga .

"Kennymore," the EDN admiral replied a moment later.

"This is Apollo, we're responding to the alert per the defense plan. Will you be able to hold your own?"

"We should," Kennymore replied. "The Proxima group will respond as needed."

"I'll keep this channel open, then." Apollo thought of an English expression, "Godspeed, Admiral."

"And to you, Commander," Kennymore replied.

4:34 AM

Ruth and two other warriors in training jumped off the turbolift as soon as it opened in the beta launch bay. Ahead of then they heard Vipers being prepared and launched. Their assigned Vipers were still in the hanger deck above the launch and recovery deck awaiting their turn to be lowered onto the launch rails. The three saw their squadron leader, Captain Greenbean, waving at them.

"Cadet Ruth reporting," she announced as she stopped before Greenbean. The other two reported as well.

"In there," Greenbean ordered while pointing toward a launch crew shelter. Entering, Ruth found the rest of the Training Squadron waiting, helmets in hand. She nodded to her brother as she joined them.

"Listen," Greenbean began. "Like always, we're on standby until further notice. If we're needed we'll man our Vipers and launch. Remember the recent training. We'll fly in pairs as the EDN instructors showed us. In the mean time we stay out of the way. Once all the other squadrons are launched your Vipers will be positioned, at that time I want each of you to find your crew chief and get your ships prepared for launch. Questions?"

Ruth and the others shook their heads.

"Then wait here until you are called," Greenbean ordered before turning to a communications terminal in the shelter to call the CIC for any updates.

Across the Centauri system, high above B-2, the Saratoga gave the appearance of an 18th century triple decked man-o-war firing both broadsides at once as F-1 Lightnings and A-1 Avengers were rapid launched. In a quarter of the time it took the Galactica to launch its Vipers the Saratoga's entire fighter wing was launched and formed into position. The F-1s were fully loaded with anti-fighter missiles. The A-1s carried a mixed payload, a single anti-ship missile and six anti-fighter missiles each. It was hoped that the A-1s would get an opportunity to strike at the Cylon base ships early in the battle.

5:07 AM

For the next thirty minutes Apollo and the rest of the Galactica senior officers monitored the approach of the Cylon base ships. In past battles the Colonials rarely had any advance notice of Cylon attacks. Now, with the cooperation of the EDN they have learned the benefits of deep space automated probes. Previously, the Colonials had feared the use of such probes as they could be easily subverted by the Cylons, instead relying solely on piloted patrols, which there never were enough of. Now, they still had concerns, but with the EDNs cybernetic abilities, easily on par with the Cylons, they were more comfortable with using such automated probes.

Commander Apollo and his staff stoically watched as the Viper wing waited for the appearance of the Cylons. The Vipers were stationed a hundred kilometers away from the Galactica along the Cylons' anticipated line of approach. Blue, Red, Green, and Gold Squadrons formed a wall of fighters while Silver Spar was positioned to their rear as a reserve.

"Scanner contact," a sensor/scanner operator in the Galactica's CIC announced over the intercom. He immediately plotted the contact and displayed on the large screens on the wall of the CIC. "One…two…now three large contacts bearing 92 minus 10, range four thousand one hundred metrics."

"There they are," Colonel Omega said as he brought up the plot on the command display pedestal. Apollo and Colonel Bojay grimaced slightly.

"Where's the fourth…" Bojay began before being interrupted.

"Scanner contact," the sensor/scanner operator announced again. "A fourth large contact has appeared bearing 91 minus 8, range four thousand seven hundred metrics. The original three contacts are getting distorted."

"They are launching fighters," Bojay concluded.

_I would love to send the Vipers to welcome them_, Apollo thought. _But by the time they would intercept the base ships the Cylons would have all their fighters deployed._

"Maintain positions," Apollo ordered. "The Cylons are too far away to attack while they are deploying their fighters."

The officers watched as three fuzzy blobs appeared on the scanner display. Then one after another two of the three blobs began their approach to the Colonial position. The first group of Raiders made their way directly towards the waiting Vipers.

"Alert the Squadrons," Bojay instructed a communications tech, "Cylon fighters are approaching at combat speed. Contact in two centons."

"Yes, Colonel," the technician replied while signaling both the Colonial squadrons and their controllers on the bridge.

"I'm going to the bridge to coordinate our Vipers from there," Bojay announced.

Apollo nodded his head as Bojay walked by.

"The first wave appears to be solely interested in our Vipers," Colonel Omega commented, seeing the two other waves changing course. "Three hundred Raiders…"

"They have been this outnumbered before," Apollo said. "They'll hold their own."

"The question is: where are the second and third waves headed," Omega asked already knowing the answer.

"Right here," Apollo said while watching the scanner display. The second group of Raiders skirted the developing battle between the first raider group and the Galactica's Vipers. The third group of Raiders hung back ready to reinforce either attack. The fourth base ship began launching it fighters.

"Your right, Commander," Omega replied.

"Set the Aegis system to Condition One," Apollo ordered.

Colonel Omega stepped over to the defensive weapons station to give relay the order.

"All defensive missile and laser batteries are on line," Omega reported a moment later.

"Very well," Apollo replied.

"Second Raider wave approaching," one of the scanner technicians announced, "Defensive missile range in ten microns."

"Weapons free," Apollo ordered.

"Missile range in five…four…three…two…missile range," the scanner technician announced.

"Launch," Apollo ordered

During the Galactica's reconstruction on Ceres, she was given the same defensive missile compliment as an EDN battleship. From several launchers on her hull a dozen anti-fighter missiles launched and began tracking targets. The same number of missiles was launched from the Galactica's EDN escorts, four destroyers and two frigates. The approaching Cylons reacted quickly by activating their new jamming systems. Again, the missiles were not fooled by the tactic. They switched to home-on-jam mode and continued toward their targets. The Cylons, realizing the missile were still tracking their targets, started dropping their decoys. The missiles then reverted to launcher guidance relying on signals from the combined targeting scanners of the Galactica and her escorts and closed on their targets and detonated.

The Galactica's Weapons Officer and the EDN escort commander didn't wait for the results of how the first wave of missiles fared against the Raiders. They launched a second and third wave on the heels of the first. The Cylons scattered under the onslaught. Of the sixty missiles fired most found their targets severely reducing the number of Raiders about to attack the allied ships. The Cylons quickly regained their composure and pressed their attack on the allied task force. As missiles continued to rain havoc on the Cylons the Raiders closed in on the Galactica and her escorts.

"Commander, the Cylons are pressing their attack," Colonel Omega reported. "Their fighters are now entering defensive gunnery range."

"Set the Aegis system to condition 2," Apollo ordered. The weapons officer made the adjustment to his controls.

"Defensive gunnery range," a scanner technician announced.

"All batteries fire as you bear," Apollo ordered.

The Galactica's new Gatling laser turrets rose from their armored enclosures and began firing on the attacking Raiders. The Galactica's new fire control system ensured that the defensive fire was much more accurate than before the ship's overhaul. With over twice the number of defensive turrets as before, the Galactica lit up like it was on fire as the Raiders made their final approach to strafe the giant ship. The EDN escorts contributed their defensive fire coordinated by the Aegis fire control system which combined the weapons of all the allied ships into a single system. Not a single Raider made it into strafing position over the allied ships.


	18. Chapter 17B

Chapter 17B – 5 December 2010

5:21 AM

"Blue Squadron, report your status, "Captain Boxey, the new commander of Blue Squadron ordered.

"Blue Two standing by."

"Blue Three standing by."

As the rest of his squadron called in their readiness, Boxey thought briefly of the upcoming battle.

"Remember your training," Boxey then radioed to his squadron. "We've covered this scenario many times, and stick to your wingman. Remember, we're defending our new home world… May the Lord bless you and keep you."

"Amen," several of his squadron mates replied.

"All squadrons," began the Galactica's lead flight controller. "Thirty microns until Cylon intercept."

The Galactica's flight controller then counted down the seconds.

"All squadrons, except Silver Spar, engage," Colonel Bojay ordered from the Galactica's bridge when the count reached ten microns. Boxey and his squadron thumbed their turbo buttons for a second to reach combat speed then switched over to firing their lasers at the approaching Cylons. The sky above New Kobol blazed with the crisscrossing beams of death. Like they always do, the battle quickly became a swirling melee.

Boxey let his wingman, Lieutenant Goran, lead his pair so he could keep one eye on his scanner to monitor the rest of his squadron. Radio calls from his squadron mates and from the controllers on the Galactica filled his ears as the battle raged.

He noticed a few minutes into the battle that the new wingman tactics were working, for now. As the Cylons would attempt to get into firing position on one element of a Viper pair the other would disrupt the attack. Even the dreaded Pinwheel attacks were being thwarted. Boxey also noticed that he wasn't using his turbos as much. The EDN trainers had stressed maneuvering in their training, not tricks such as Turbo use and VIFFing (vectoring in forward flight/using braking thrusters). Conversely, he noticed that it was taking just a little longer for the lead of each pair to target the Cylon Raiders. All in all he felt it to be a slight advantage to his Warriors.

"Goran," Boxey called, "Break plus X." A raider was starting to line up on Boxey's wingman's tail.

"Breaking," Goran called while reefing his Viper into a tight turn while Boxey lined up on the Raider pursuing Goran. A few seconds later he pressed his thumb down on the laser firing stud on his control stick. The Raider blew up spectacularly as Boxey returned to covering Goran, allowing him to start lining up for a shot on another Raider.

000

Colonel Bojay stood behind his team of flight controllers on the Galactica's bridge overseeing the battle between his Vipers and the first wave of Cylon Raiders. He had trained his warriors hard during the previous year and he could see the results of that training in the melee on the scanner screens. In the first ten minutes of the fight he had not needed to send in reinforcements from Silver Spar squadron, but during that time he had seen the second wave of Raiders surround the Galactica and her EDN escorts. He had offered Commander Apollo Silver Spar, and the waiting Reserve and Training squadrons to help beat off the second wave, but Apollo had declined in anticipation of the third wave.

Bojay's controllers, closely monitoring the fuel state of the fighting squadrons, requested that Silver Spar start relieving the others for refueling. Then he looked at how the Cylons had the Galactica and the escorts surrounded. Bojay adjusted his headset to call the CIC and was quickly connected with Apollo.

"I need to start refueling my Vipers to avoid a refueling emergency," Boeing told the Commander. "Can you clear the landing approaches?"

"We'll try," Apollo replied. "But we are encompassed by Raiders. Your Vipers will have to run the gauntlet to land. You may have to start contingency refueling operations."

"We'll refuel on the auxiliaries," Bojay said. "Let me know when you have the Raiders thinned out enough for normal landing ops."

"Will do," Apollo replied. Bojay then turned to his flight controllers.

"Order Silver Spar Squadron to relieve Gold Squadron," he began. "Gold is to refuel on the freighters." The controller immediately sent out the orders.

000

Among the swirling array of Vipers and Raiders Captain Cree, the leader of Gold Squadron, glanced down at his fuel indicator after receiving the orders from the Galactica, noting that it read at seventy-five percent full.

"Gold Squadron, break out," he ordered. He levered his stick over for a hard turn and thumbed his Turbos for a couple of seconds to clear the area of battle. After setting course for the fleet's freighters he glanced down at his scanner to see his wingman and the rest of his squadron pulling clear of the melee. Looking up again he saw Silver Spar squadron leap into battle, lasers blazing at the surprised Cylons who chose to chase Gold squadron.

000

"Third Raider wave approaching," a scanner operator announced over the CIC speakers.

"Our Vipers are holding their own, as are we here," Colonel Omega said to Apollo at the display pedestal. A group of dots on the display finished forming and began their march toward the Colonial/EDN positions. Apollo just nodded somberly. The list of responses they could make was getting very short. Then the Cylon Raider formation changed.

"Three groups," Apollo pondered aloud. A moment later the Cylon intentions were clear.

"Signal the bridge," Apollo ordered. "Have Bojay prepare to launch the Reserve and Training squadrons in defense of the civilian ships."

Omega looked back at Apollo in shock. "We should call for the Proxima group," he said finally.

"That too," Apollo replied, "Get Kennymore on the Comline."

Lieutenant Hoeing stood listening to Apollo's last orders and came to a decision. "Commander," he began. "I'm fully qualified on the Viper, both one and two. I request permission to launch with the Training squadron. They'll need all the experienced help they can get."

"Go," Apollo simply ordered.

000

Captain Greenbean hung up the telephone and turned to face his trainees.

"Alright cadets," he began. "The Cylons are sending two phalanxes of Raiders against the civilian ships. We're to launch with the Reserve squadron right as they pass the Galactica and strike their rear. This is an impromptu attack so I want to make it clear…Stick to your wingman and take no unnecessary risks. Reserve squadron is taking the lead on this attack and will remain with the freighters afterwards while we return to the Galactica or land on New Kobol. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes, Captain," Ruth replied in chorus with the other trainees. The telephone rang again and Greenbean picked it up. "Ok, we're getting an experienced EDN pilot to fly with us. I'm assigning him to general over-watch with me."

Zac caught his older sister's eye and gave her a smirk. Ruth gave her brother and fellow cadet a stern look.

"Go man your Vipers," Greenbean ordered. The cadets trotted out of the shelter towards the waiting fighters. When Ruth was halfway to her personal ship she saw a turbolift open and a familiar figure emerge, wearing an EDN flight suit, helmet in hand. She stopped as Hoeing jogged over to Captain Greenbean.

"Matt, your're flying with us," she asked with a pleased yet concerned voice and a small smile while Greenbean trotted off to his Viper.

"When I heard that your squadron was launching I volunteered."

Matt set his helmet on the deck next to him and held out both of his hands. Ruth gave him a questioning look then placed her own helmet down and took hold of his hands. Matt bowed his head slightly and began to pray.

"Lord, please watch over those who are now and will be risking their lives to protect their brothers and sisters. May your will be done. Amen."

"Amen," Ruth said.

Matt then raised one of Ruth's hands and quickly kissed it.

"Amen and man your ship," Greenbean ordered with an understanding voice.

"Yes, Captain," both replied simultaneously.

A few minutes later, two more squadrons of Vipers launched into battle.


	19. Chapter 17C

Chapter 17C – 5 December 2010

The pressure of acceleration pressed Lieutenants Huber and Carter back against their seats as they and their F-1 Lightning were flung down one of the USS Saratoga's launch tubes.

"Form up on coordinates Zeta-Three," they heard from the squadron commander.

Huber eased off his throttle and swung the fighter towards the rendezvous with the rest of his squadron. Around him swarmed the other fighters and the A-1 Avenger attack fighters of the Saratoga's carrier wing as four Cylon base ships approached B-2 at light-speed. The wing formed into a wall of fighters between the Saratoga and her escorts and the Cylons. Once formed, they began to wait. Ten minutes later the Cylons decelerated from light-speed, barely a thousand kilometers from the Saratoga task force. Realizing their mistake, they should have deployed further away, all four base ships began launching Raiders as fast as they could.

"Sierra Actual to Sierra Wing," Admiral Kennymore called to the Saratoga's fighter wing. "Plan Delta is in effect. I repeat Plan Delta is in effect. Go get 'em boys."

At Kennymore's order the Saratoga's squadrons reformed. Three squadrons of Lightnings formed a spear head followed by the attack squadron. A fourth squadron of Lightnings split and formed around the Avengers as close escorts. The formation accelerated hard toward the Cylon base ships. The last fighter squadron remained near the EDN ships.

While approaching the base ships the Saratoga's wing commander saw that the Cylons had launched over two hundred raiders, but because of the distance between the fourth one and the other three, only a hundred and fifty or so were an immediate threat to the Saratoga's carrier wing.

"Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie elements, make us a hole," the wing commander called from the lead F-1.

The available Raiders formed their own wall of defense and activated their jammers as Huber and the other fighters in the leading element of the attack launched two missiles each towards the waiting Raiders. The Raiders began maneuvering and launched their decoys. The missiles switched to launcher guidance and continued towards their targets. Over fifty Raiders, mostly those toward the center of the Cylon formation, were struck by the missiles and destroyed. The rest of the Cylon formation was disrupted as all the Raiders took evasive action. The leading Lightnings tore through the Cylon formation and turned outwards to continue fighting with the remaining Cylons while the Avengers and their escort Lightnings continued toward the base ships.

Noticing the approaching EDN fighters, the base ships began to fire their defensive batteries while the Avengers launched their anti-ship missiles against the closest two base ships and turned away back towards the Saratoga. The Cylons shifted their defensive fire from the Avengers to the approaching missiles, striking several of them. Of the fifteen missiles fired, seven were destroyed, one lost its guidance due to the jamming, and the rest bored in on one base ship striking it at multiple places. The eight one hundred kiloton nuclear explosives obliterated the base ship sending debris flying in all directions. Several more Raiders were destroyed while the two neighboring base ships were lightly damaged from the debris. The damaged Raiders turned around to wait until they could be recovered.

Meanwhile, the retreating Avengers and Lightnings struck the rear of the Raider formation and, after destroying another score of Cylon fighters, broke through to rejoin the other squadrons. The reformed wing accelerated hard back towards the Saratoga.

_Well, that went pretty well_, Huber thought to himself. He and Carter had claimed five Raiders in the hasty attack on the base ships, making him an ace.

"Reform defensive formation," the wing commander ordered while echoing Huber's thoughts.

About halfway between the two opposing forces they stopped, faced the Cylons, reformed their defensive wall, and began to wait. They didn't have to wait long. The Raiders continued to launch from the surviving base ships, joining the others that remained after the hasty attack from the Saratoga's carrier wing. Soon, all the available Raiders formed a massive formation of over four hundred craft and bore down on the waiting Lightining and Avengers.

"Plan Alpha is in effect," the wing commander ordered. With that order one squadron at a time fired missiles at the Raiders and retreated a hundred kilometers in a tactic resembling an 18th century infantry battalion fighting in retrograde. The constant barrage of missiles kept the Cylon formation disrupted and kept them from closing with the EDN fighter wing, but the EDN fighters had only a little space to trade for time.

Admiral Kennymore, in the Saratoga CIC, smiled inwardly at the successful attack his carrier wing had made. _They won't make that mistake twice_, he thought regarding the Cylon mistake in their deployment. _That also means that neither their Imperious Leader nor an IL is present there. We got our licks in, now it's time to lighten things up_, he quipped to himself.

"Order the Monitor to open fire," he ordered.

Well to the rear of the EDN formation the Monitor with it escorts began moving to achieve a clear shot on the Cylon base ships. A few minutes later the ship's crew transferred all available power to the spinally mounted pulsar weapon while the Monitor coasted with inertia. Short bursts of reaction control thrusters kept her attitude aligned with her course. A moment later a blast of unbearably bright laser light leapt from the ship's bow. A fraction of a second later the rearmost base ship was struck. Only a tiny fraction of the power of the beam was shunted by the base ship's shields. The rest impacted the base ship, instantly exploding it.

"Identify the weapon that struck Base Ship Seven," the gold Cylon commander on board one of the two surviving base ships ordered. The Cylon commander's circuits were almost overloaded with trying to determine a course of action in the face of the EDN's new weapon. It was ordered to lead one attack element against the human colony and destroy it and any ships trying to protect it. It was just beginning to realize that that mission could not be accomplished.

"Commander, the weapon appears to have the characteristics of the Ravishol pulsar that was destroyed on the Arcta planetoid," one of the Cylons present in the base ships central core command center reported. "It power output is seventy one percent of the Arcta weapon."

The gold Cylon ran a few computations on the best course of action remaining.

"Recover all available fighters," it ordered. "Signal all ships and warn them of the human pulsar weapon."

"By your command," several Cylons in the command center spoke at once while beginning to act on the orders.

The order to retreat was a moment too late for the Raiders attacking the Saratoga's carrier wing. The Lightnings and Avengers had tried to draw the Raiders away from the Saratoga and her escorts with their retrograde maneuvers. Now only a scant hundred kilometers remained between the Raiders and the EDN ships. Half of the Raiders, over a hundred changed course and headed towards the EDN carrier and escorts.

Kennymore and his command staff noticed the Cylon maneuver and ordered weapons free for his ships. As the Cylons approached first several waves of missiles struck among the Raiders and then the defensive laser batteries began firing, all under Aegis battle management. Then a bright light lit the sky over B-2 again and the third base ship over B-2 was destroyed. At that point the recall order reached the Raiders and they began to retreat, again greatly depleted in number.

The gold Cylon of the surviving base ship noted the timing of the blasts from the human's pulsar weapon and calculated that it was impossible to recover the remaining Raiders before being destroyed. They had recovered half a phalanx, half of the ones that had remained at the base ships to protect them in case of another attack by the human missile fighters. The other half of the phalanx was just destroyed along with the base ship that had recovered them.

"Accelerate to light-speed," the gold Cylon ordered, "Rendezvous with the remaining base ships attacking the other human colony."

A moment later the base ship jumped to light-speed.

The Saratoga with three recovered squadrons, two of Lightnings and the Avengers, along with the Monitor and half the escorts jumped to New Kobol.

_Damn,_ Huber thought. His squadron was one of those ordered left behind to clean up the remaining Raiders while his home plate and most of the task force departed to A-3, the Colonial colony. Then he realized his fortune. _We won…and I get to see Lisa and the kids again._ With happier thoughts he went about his task of striking down the retreating Raiders before they could cause any damage to his new home world or his fellow sailors.


	20. Chapter 17D

Chapter 17D – 5 December 2010

Lieutenant Hoeing settled himself within Captain Starbucks old Viper and activated its systems while plugging in his skin-tight pressure suit's life support and communications harnesses. Presently he heard the familiar whine of Tylium energizers fill the Viper II's cockpit. When the ship's computer came online he called up its communications system and saw that his call-sign had already been assigned to him.

"T-Zeta, prepared for launch," Hoeing called to the Galactica's launch controller.

"Stand by for launch," he heard a controller reply.

"Be prepared for enemy fire once you launch," Captain Greenbean said over the squadron frequency. Hoeing heard a tap on the left side of his canopy and looked left to see his crew chief giving him thumbs up signifying that all the ground connections had been removed from the Viper. The launch crews quickly went to their shelters while the flight controllers from the bridge sent the Training and Reserve squadrons their launch vectors.

0

In the CIC, Apollo watched on the pedestal monitor as the Raiders of the third wave bypassed the battle between the second wave of Cylon fighters and the Galactica and the EDN escorts and headed towards the fleet's transports.

"Increase defensive fire around the landing bays," Apollo ordered, "Then launch Reserve and Training squadrons."

0

"Training Squadron, launch," Hoeing heard a controller call over his communications system. He braced himself in his couch and slammed his throttle forward past the detent. The redesign of the Viper replaced the controls with typical American fighter controls. The lasers, as well as the missiles, were still fired from the stick, but with a trigger, not a thumb button. Other buttons on the yoke, mostly thumb operated, controlled the heads-up display and the multifunction display on the Viper II's control panel. A traditional left hand throttle, with its own thumb buttons, now controlled the fighter's engines. Pushing the throttle all the way forward past a detent in the throttle's travel activated the Turbo mode of the fighter's engines.

The Viper II accelerated smartly down the launch tube ahead of all the others of the Training squadron. Hoeing pulled back on his throttle while watching both the scanner feed to his heads up display and his peripheral vision for the rest of the squadron to launch.

Greenbean led the rest of the squadron behind Hoeing. "Zeta, help me blast a path," he ordered as the barrage from the Galactica and the EDN escorts let up. Ahead of Greenbean in T-One and Hoeing a small group of Cylons waited warily for the newly launched fighters to leave the protective field of fire from the allied ships. Behind them the rest of Training squadron assemble in pairs and formed a cone behind their leader. With thumbs held down on their laser firing studs the squadron laid down their own barrage against the Raiders, striking a couple and forcing the rest to flee. The Training squadron ripped through the Cylons that were encompassing the allied ships and quickly turned to pursue the Raiders that were about to attack the transports. The Reserve squadron, having launched from Alpha bay, had to quickly pass back around the Galactica and formed up behind the Training squadron. With turbos blazing they overtook the Training squadron to take the lead.

"Thanks for the nice big hole," Captain Jolly, the leader of the Reservists called.

"You're welcome," Greenbean replied. "Now it's your turn."

Having been warned of the coming Colonial counter attack, the two Phalanxes of Raiders that were about attack the transports split their formation. Half continued towards the transports and half turn to face the oncoming Vipers. The two Viper squadrons again laid down a barrage of laser fire as they rushed headlong into the closer Raider formation. The Raiders and Vipers immediately found themselves in a wild melee, fifty Raiders against thirty Vipers. The relative inexperience of the cadets and the rusty skills of the reservists made the contest with the slightly superior number of Raiders even

"Zeta," Greenbean called. "Don't use your missiles unless it's an emergency."

"Roger," Hoeing replied as he began to randomly pass through the melee watching over the rest of the Training squadron.

The leaders of the Training squadron didn't have to wait long for one of their cadets to get into trouble.

"I got one on my tail," Zac in T-4 called urgently.

Hoeing checked his scanner and saw that he was closer than Greenbean.

"I'll be right there," Hoeing called while reefing his yoke over to a tight turn.

"I can't shake him," Zac called more urgently while Hoeing maneuvered for a shot on the Pinwheel attack forming around Zac.

Hoeing lined up on the Raider that was the most immediate threat to Zac. "Fox Two," he called as he set his weapons control on his yoke for lasers and pulled the trigger. As the Raider promptly exploded under the fire, the others that were taking part in the attack on Zac took evasive action.

The other phalanx of Raiders proceeded to attack the Colonial transport ships. As they approached the transports the Cylons were surprised when suddenly defensive laser fire erupted from the ships, destroying several Raiders before they could react. The Cylons pulled back slightly to begin their traditional strafing attacks.

Gold squadron chose that moment to rejoin the battle. Fully refueled, though a couple of the Vipers had hasty repairs, the squadron launched and struck back at the Raiders. The experienced, fully trained veterans of Gold squadron began their own melee with the Cylons supported by defensive fire from the transports.

0

On the other side of the battle over New Kobol a new force entered the fray. The EDN heavy cruisers Boston and Philadelphia accompanied by two destroyers and four frigates from Proxima decelerated from light speed and proceeded directly toward the rearmost Cylon base ship. Those few Raiders that were near the base ships, almost all of then were committed to the battle against the allied force, turned to face the new threat. Missiles reached out to them and swatted most of them out of the sky.

Then the EDN task force opened fire on the rearmost base ship. With a combined firepower equal a battleship, the two heavy cruisers soon had the base ship rocking from their heavy lasers while they closed to missile range. The surprised Cylons began to return fire a moment later. Damage to the cruisers and their escorts began to mount as they drew closer to the base ship.

Finally, the battered ships reached optimal missile range and let loose with a half dozen anti-ship missiles. The Cylons began to fire their defensive weapons, but because of the closeness of the attack only destroyed one. The remaining missiles screamed across the short space between the opposing ships and struck the base ship. The five nuclear warheads made short work of the base ship. The battered EDN ships then pulled away from the other three base ships and began to skirt the battle, making their way to a rendezvous with the Galactica. The commander of the task force knew his little force was incapable of attacking three base ships at once.

0

The Gold Cylon now in charge of the battle over A-3 contemplated the battle. Its leader had just been destroyed with its base ship by the newly arrived task force. The Cylon quickly recomputed the odds of the battle and concluded that it was now lost. Even with the arrival of the base ship from the force that had attacked the other human colony, the battle was now in the human's favor for soon their pulsar equipped ship would arrive. Now it was time to cut their losses and retreat. It ordered the recall of all fighters and also for the base ships to open the range between them and the human ships.

0

In the Galactica's CIC Apollo noticed the beginning of the Cylon retreat as the Raiders attacking the transports abandoned their attack to join those attacking the Galactica and the EDN escort ships. He immediately called the bridge.

"Bojay," Apollo began. "Have Gold and Reserve pursue the Raiders. Keep Training with the transports."

"Will do," Colonel Bojay replied with a grin. _Now to counter attack_, he thought.

0

With Gold squadron in the lead the two squadrons struck back at the Raiders encompassing the Galactica and the EDN destroyers and frigates. The Cylons there had just received their recall order and had turned away from the allied ships. The two Viper squadrons struck their rear destroying nearly a score of the Cylon fighters before they could react. The Raiders then scattered in all directions forcing the Colonials to pursue them piecemeal or let them go. The Raiders still outnumbered the Vipers. Instead, Bojay ordered the two squadrons to reinforce their fellows not far away. If the warriors had chosen to pursue them individually they could have been overwhelmed.

At that moment the surviving base ship from the attack against B-2 arrived. It began to launch what fighters it had, keeping them close in case of a Colonial counter attack. The warriors facing off against the first wave of Raiders were hard pressed until the arrival of the two additional squadrons. The Cylons there just received their recall order when Gold and Reserve squadron added their numbers to the fray. With the increased number of Vipers to deal with an orderly retreat was denied to the Cylons. They also chose to scatter before making their way to the waiting base ships. Bojay ordered the Viper wing to hold their position and for Green squadron to return to the Galactica to refuel.

0

"What do we do now," Colonel Omega asked of Apollo.

"Be happy the Cylons are withdrawing," Apollo replied as he watched the main plot on his command pedestal in CIC. "Status report," he ordered.

"We lost eight warriors from the Viper wing, one of them a cadet," Omega replied while changing the display on the pedestal to bring up the tentative casualty report. "The Galactica is damage free as well as our EDN friends. The transports report light to moderate damage but no casualties. The Boston group reports moderate damage, but one of their frigates took serious damage and reports heavy casualties. Rescue operations are underway."

"Then we've held our own, good," Apollo said absently while thinking of the situation and offering a quick, silent prayer for the fallen. _Can we counterattack_, he then asked himself. _The Raiders still outnumber us more than two to one and even with the heavy cruisers I'm not sure if a ship to ship battle with the base ships would go in our favor._

"Signal our status to Admiral Kennymore," he ordered.

"Yes, Commander a communications tech replied."

0

A sort of stalemate settled over New Kobol as both sides of the battle consolidated their positions. The Raiders continued to retreat to the base ships while the allies watched silently. The Viper wing was strong enough to keep the Cylons at bay yet not strong enough to properly counterattack. Bojay kept up the refueling rotation as the situation allowed while the heavy cruisers task force took position with the transports.

Fifteen minutes after the arrival of the surviving base ship and the recall of the Raiders the Saratoga, Monitor and their escorts arrived from B-2. As the Saratoga launched its Lightnings and Avengers the Monitor moved to get a clear shot.

Seeing the arrival of the new ships to the battle the Cylon commander ordered a general retreat and the recovery of as many Raiders as possible before the pulsar could fire. After a quick conference between Apollo and Kennymore the newly launched EDN fighters, Lightnings in the lead followed by the Avengers, went to full throttle toward the occupied base ships. Most of the Vipers of the Galactica's fighter wing accompanied them. The Cylon fighters formed a hasty defensive wall that was easily broached by missile fire from the advancing EDN fighters. As the Lightnings and Avengers broke through the Cylon formation the Vipers engaged the Raiders. When the Avengers closed to missile range they unleashed their anti-ship missiles. Just like over B-2, the missiles targeted two of the four base ships, but this time the Cylon defensive fire could not prevent both base ships from being hit. As one base ship exploded under the onslaught of missiles the other was struck by only one which took down the ship's electronic shields and badly damaged the facing half of its lower saucer. The Cylons chose that moment for the remaining three base ships to accelerate to light speed and escape leaving nearly a hundred Raiders behind which were quickly cleaned up by the combined fighter wings.


	21. Chapter 18 - Epilog

Chapter 18 – 5 December 2010

"Commander's Log, I have just returned from New Kobol and from briefing the Council on the battle just fought with the Cylons. I submitted a copy of the after action report at that time. One of the main points I made was about the performance difference between the Viper and the EDN's Lightnings and Avengers. I also pointed out that the Viper II provided by Starbuck is a nice compromise between the two styles of craft. I stressed that I wanted the Viper II put into production immediately, even if it required the reactivation of the Foundary Ship, the Celestra, and Electronics Ship. I also pointed out the need to increase our defenses in light of the renewed Cylon threat. One of the easiest things we can do is create new Viper squadrons to be based on New Kobol. The military airfield near the new academy grounds will be ready soon. Once it is I will be assigning the Training Squadron and Reserve Squadron to New Kobol. This will allow two new squadrons to be raised and posted to the Galactica. The Council readily agreed to this plan and authorized the reactivation of the Pegasus' former Bronze Spar squadron and the creation of a new squadron yet to be named. Reservists will be reactivated to man these squadrons"

Apollo paused his recording and leaned his tired frame back in his chair.

"Come to bed," Sheba said from the bed after noting his change in posture.

"I think I will, Apollo replied tiredly. "It's been a long day."

O

On a base several solar systems away from Alpha Centauri and the Solar System a Gold Cylon in command of the Cylon expeditionary force compiled the statistics from the battle against the Humans new colonies. It noted the loss of four base ships, hundreds of Raiders, Centurions, and other equipment. It also recorded all the available intelligence on the human's tactics and equipment, including their new pulsar equipped ship. It saved the report while composing a request for reinforcements. Once both files were ready it sent both documents to the communications queue, with a command Cylons priority code, for transmission to Cylon.

A few meters from the Gold Cylon an ethereal being stood. Hidden waves of energy sheeted from it causing its black trimmed white robes to rustle like a strong breeze was blowing on them.

"How dare they defy me," Iblis raged silently. Iblis along with his Cylon children had been surprised by the human's pulsar weapon. He would direct his children in their pursuit of a counter to the weapon. "I will have my revenge," Iblis declared to himself before disappearing into the ether.

6 December 2010

The main auditorium on the moon base was full, mostly of EDN officers and enlisted personnel, but also with representatives of the civilian population of the base. Cameras were set up to broadcast the event to take place to the entire EDN and Colonial populations, including to those stationed in Alpha Centauri.

"Attention!" an officer called out causing the murmur of discussion within the room to immediately cease while all the military personnel stood up at attention. The civilians rose a second later. Admiral Stevens followed by Ron and Mark Davis and Captain Starbuck then entered the stage. Stevens stood before the microphone posted toward the front of the stage while the other three took up position a couple of meters behind him.

"At ease," Stevens ordered, the EDN members quickly took their seats followed by the rest.

"Yesterday Cylon forces attempted to destroy the newly established colonies in the Alpha Centauri star system. Four base ships were sent against each colony world. I am proud to say that allied forces soundly defeated the Cylon attack. A mistake in the Cylon deployment allowed the fighter wing from the Saratoga a quick strike against the base ships which destroyed one. A heavy cruiser task force from Proxima struck the Cylon force fighting our Colonial allies. Again a single base ship was destroyed. Then the allied forces were forced to a defensive posture until the newly commissioned USS Monitor could enter the battle. Once it did so out victory was ensured. Yet, our victory came with a price. The allied forces suffered losses in the battle and I ask all of you to pray for the families of those who gave their lives in defense of humanity.

"Yesterday's attack has shown us that the Cylons know about our colonies and that they will not give up their mission to exterminate all of mankind. Yet, we have our mission too. A mission that comes from God Himself. We are to prevent the Cylons from threatening Earth and our colonies ever again. We are to seek out their bases and drive them back from our region of the galaxy. We will chase the Cylons all the way back to their home world and end the Cylon menace forever.

"Though God gave us a difficult task, we will not waver in accomplishing His will. Though there will be setbacks, we will learn from our mistakes. As we move forward we will seek out allies willing to help us in our mission.

"We will fight the Cylons here and in Alpha Centauri. We will fight the Cylons and defeat their advanced forces. We will fight the Cylons as we destroy their outer capital at Gamoray. We will fight the Cylons as we retake the Twelve Colonies. And we will fight the Cylons as we take the battle them all the way to the Cylon homeworld itself. We will not fail, so help me, God."

As the auditorium erupted with cheers Stevens stepped back from the microphone and quietly departed the stage.


End file.
